Harmful radiation could contribute towards Alzheimer’s disease

An international consortium of researchers including Stefan Kempf (University of Southern Denmark, Denmark) has demonstrated that ionizing radiation is a potential contributor to Alzheimer’s disease. Exposure to ionizing radiation is becoming increasingly common in the modern world through likes of nuclear technologies, airline travel, medical diagnostics and therapeutic radiology, amongst others. Recent data has suggested then at even relatively low doses, exposure to this type of radiation could induce molecular alterations associated with cognitive dysfunction. The consortium therefore studied the effect of chronic low-dose-rate ionizing radiation treatment in the murine hippocampus at two dose rates. ApoE-deficient C57BL/6 mice used as...