Space Radiation and the Brain

£5.00

R. E. Hampson (2015), JBIS68, pp.5-9

Refcode: 2015.68.5

Abstract:
Solar and cosmic radiation pose a number of physiological challenges to human spaceflight outside the protective region of Earth’s magnetosphere. Aside from well-described effects of radiation on the blood-forming tissues of the hematopoietic system, there is increasing evidence of direct effects of radiation on the brain as evidenced by studies showing longitudinal decline in memory and cognitive function following radiation specifically directed at brain tissue. These indications strengthen the need to more fully research effects of radiation – particular those components associated with solar wind and galactic cosmic radiation – on the nervous system of mammals from rodents to humans.