Behavioral resistance of against high-LET radiation exposure

Sakashita, Tetsuya; Suzuki, Michiyo; Hamada, Nobuyuki*; Shimozawa, Yoko; Fukamoto, Kana*; Yokota, Yuichiro; Sora, Sakura*; Kakizaki, Takehiko*; Wada, Seiichi*; Funayama, Tomoo; Kobayashi, Yasuhiko

Here, we investigated the resistance to high-LET radiation exposure for two behaviors of the nematode, , which is known as a model organism for the nervous system. Tested behaviors were locomotion and chemotaxis to NaCl. In addition, egg hatchability was examined as an indicator of high-LET radiation sensitivity. Relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of high-LET radiation (C, 18.3 MeV/u, LET = 113 keV/m) relative to low-LET radiation for hatchability was 4.5, whereas RBEs for locomotion and chemotaxis were 1.4 and 1.1, respectively. This study shows that the behavioral system for locomotion and chemotaxis of is highly resistant to high-LET radiation exposure.