The effects of cosmic particle radiation on pocket mice aboard Apollo XVII: X. Results of ear examination

• Published in: Aviation, space, and environmental medicine Vol. 46; no. 4 Sec 2; p. 582
• Main Authors: Haymaker, W, Leon, H A, Barrows, W F, Suri, K, Kraft, L M, Turnbill, C E, Webster, D B, Ashley, W W, Look, B C, Simmonds, R C, Cooper, W, Platt, W T, Behnke, Jr, A R, Erway, L C, Cruty, M R, Benton, E V, Ellis, J T, Bailey, O T, Vogel, F S, Lloyd, B, Zeman, W, Billingham, J, Samorajski, T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.04.1975
• Subjects: Animals; Atmospheric Pressure; Cell Aggregation; Cosmic Radiation; Ear Diseases - pathology; Ear, Middle - anatomy & histology; Ear, Middle - pathology; Ear, Middle - radiation effects; Exudates and Transudates; Hemorrhage - pathology; Leukocytes; Mice; Oxides; Oxygen; Potassium; Radiation Effects; Space Flight; United States; United States
• ISSN: 0095-6562

In the five pocket mice flown on Apollo XVII, no evidence was found that the inner ear had been damaged, though poor fixation precluded detailed study. On the other hand, the middle ear cavity was involved in all the mice, hemorrhage having occurrred in response to excursions in pressure within the canister that housed the mice during their flight. The same occurred in flight control mice which had been subjected to pressure excursions of much the same magnitude. A greater degree of exudation into air cells and greater leukotaxis were noted in the flight animals than in the control animals. There was no increase in leukocyte population along the paths of the 23 cosmic ray particles registered in the subscalp dosimeters that traversed the middle ear cavities of the flight mice. The increased exudation and the greater response by leukocytes in the flight mice may have been causally related to the lesions found in their olfactory mucosa but there were no data in support of this possibility.