Effects of Cosmic Particle Radiation on Pocket Mice Aboard Apollo 17   

Radiation/Environmental Health

Perognathus longimembris (Pocket Mouse)

1 Flight Female; 4 Flight Males

5 Flight Backup

BIOCORE: Life Support Hardware; Pocket Mouse Radiation Dosimeter

The objective of the BIOCORE experiments were to determine whether a specific portion of the high Z energy (HZE) galactic cosmic ray particle spectrum, especially particles with Z no less than six, can produce microscopically visible injuries in the brain, eye, and other tissues.

Two canisters were prepared with five pocket mice in each. One canister was used in the flight experiment; the other was used as a ground control, undergoing the same stress as the flight canister. Flight mice were implanted with plastic dosimeters underneath the scalp. The mice were sacrificed postflight. The heads were fixed and sliced into 1,600 sections each, and compared with the similarly sectioned heads of the control mice (which had paper dosimeters placed on their heads, and holes drilled to simulate the HZE particle paths that were encountered by the flight mice). Flight cosmic ray particles were recorded in the five dosim eters, which probably recorded 50% of the hits through the brain.

Four of the five mice returned alive; two in good, active condition, two subdued and hunched up. The body tissues of the four live mice showed no change due to HZE. The olfactory epithelium was severely damaged in four of the mice, less severely in the other. Both flight and control mice showed hemorrhaging in the middle ear cavity bilaterally. Although there were thirteen tiny lesions in the scalps of three flight mice, there were no pathological changes to the brain meninges or calvarium. Five particles were recorded through the eyes, but no retinal lesions were found. Although detailed studies were performed in an effort to discover whether HZE particles are injurious to brain and other tissue, the absence of lesions does not negate this possibility.

Bailey, O.T. et al.: BIOCORE Experiment: Apollo 17 Mission. Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report, NASA SP-330, 1973¥

Cruty, M.R. et al.: Cosmic Ray Particle Dosimetry and Trajectory Tracing—Cosmic Ray Track Analysis for Apollo 17 BIOCORE. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, vol. 46, no. 4, sec. II, 1975, pp. 537-552.

Haymaker, W. et al.: BIOCORE: Pocket Mouse Experiment. BIOSPEX: Biological Space Experiments , NASA TM-58217, 1979, p. 112.

Haymaker, W. et al.: The Apollo 17 Pocket Mouse Experiment (BIOCORE). Biomedical Results of Apollo, R.S. Johnston, L.F. Dietlein and C.A. Berry, eds., NASA SP-368, 1975, pp. 381-403

Haymaker, W. et al.: The Effects of Cosmic Particle Radiation on Pocket Mice Aboard Apollo XVII: I. Project BIOCORE (M212), A Biological Cosmic Ray Experiment: Procedures, Summary, and Conclusions. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, vol. 46, no. 4, sec. II, 1975, pp. 467-481.

Look, B.C. et al.: The Effects of Cosmic Particle Radiation on Pocket Mice Aboard Apollo XVII: VI. Launch, Flight, and Recovery. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, vol. 46, no. 4, sec. II, 1975, pp. 529-536.

¥ = publication of related ground-based study