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Poster Contributed Presentation

RAM

Monday Poster Sessions

M14 - Dose-Dependent Hair Greying in Mice from Ionizing Radiation Exposure and its Characterization Using Raman Spectroscopy

Monday, October 6, 2025
9:45 AM - 5:30 PM EDT
Location: Ballroom C
In fifteen words or less, explain the significance of this contribution (Novel Aspect).: Ionizing radiation causes depigmentation in mouse hairs that can be analyzed with Raman spectroscopy.

Abstract Text: Regular exposure to ionizing radiation can produce a multitude of negative health effects, such as organ damage, hair loss, and cancer; therefore, a technique to measure the extent of exposure to this type of radiation is necessary. In mice exposed to ionizing radiation, accelerated aging that causes hair greying has been observed related to dose of exposure and type of radiation. Raman spectroscopy is a vibrational spectroscopic technique that measures the inelastic scattering of monochromatic light. It is an advantageous technique to study this effect in irradiated hairs due to its non-destructive and molecularly specific properties. Hair samples from C57BL/6 mice were exposed to 0, 1, 2, or 4 Gy doses of neutron radiation (dose rate 0.5 Gy/hr) at the timepoints of days 1, 25, 90, and 150. To determine the dose dependence of observed hair greying in these samples 20-30 hairs from each mouse were counted based on their optical appearance and classified as de-pigmented or pigmented. Expressed as percentage de-pigmented, an increase in de-pigmentation was associated with dose and increasing timepoint. Raman mapping was performed at 785 nm to examine the melanin deposits for defects associated with radiation exposure in day 150 de-pigmented hairs at 0, 1, and 2 Gy doses. These maps were analyzed with principal component analysis to visualize chemical changes reflected in the pigment Raman spectrum. The results of this study demonstrated that hair greying in mice from ionizing radiation has a significant linear dose dependence at days 120 and 150. The mapping data indicates that there may be chemical differences in melanin deposits along radiation-exposed hairs. Analyzing melanin in hairs using Raman spectroscopy may offer a novel approach to retrospective biodosimetry in cases exhibiting this accelerated aging effect.