PNNL

Abstract

Understanding how human organs respond to ionizing radiation (IR) at a systems biology level and identifying biomarkers for IR exposure at low doses can help provide a scientific basis for establishing radiation protection standards. Little is known regarding the physiological responses to low dose IR at the metabolite level, which represents the end-point of biochemical processes inside cells. Using a full thickness human skin tissue model and GC-MS-based metabolomics analysis, we examined the metabolic perturbations at three time points (3, 24 and 48 hr) after exposure to 3, 10 and 200 cGy of X-rays. PLS-DA score plots revealed dose- and time-dependent clustering between sham and irradiated groups. Importantly, a comparable number of metabolites were detected to have significant change 48 hr after exposure to 3 and 10 cGy of irradiation, when compared with the high dose of 200 cGy. Biochemical pathway analysis showed perturbations to DNA/RNA damage and repair, lipid and energy metabolisms, even at low doses of IR.