Deep space radiation causes completely different types of brain damage in men and women, and the supposed cure might make men lose their mental flexibility.
Cosmic rays are a major hurdle for any future mission to Mars or beyond. Male mice exposed to simulated space radiation suffered from memory loss, while females showed deficits in behavioral flexibility. A promising drug meant to prevent this damage successfully protected male memory but simultaneously destroyed their ability to adapt to new situations. This trade-off suggests that a one-size-fits-all pill for astronauts is likely impossible. Future space travel will require medical treatments tailored specifically to the sex of the crew.
Galactic cosmic radiation produces sex-specific, circuit-selective cognitive vulnerability: countermeasure trade-offs revealed by multi-domain assessment
research_square · rs-9476558
Abstract Astronauts on deep space missions face chronic exposure to galactic cosmic radiation (GCR). However, it remains unknown whether mission-relevant multi-ion GCR produces global or circuit-selective cognitive vulnerabilities and whether candidate countermeasures protect uniformly or show domain-dependent trade-offs. Here we used a 33-ion GCR simulation with concurrent countermeasure treatment to address both questions in male and female mice. C57BL/6J mice received 33-GCR (0.75 Gy) or sham