Nicolas Rey will defend his thesis
on Friday 5th February 2021 at 2:00 pm
at the auditorium of IRSN, building 01
31 Avenue de la Division Leclerc
92260 Fontenay-aux-Roses
France
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to study the
effects of low doses of ionizing γ radiation in atherosclerosis, an inflammatory disease of the walls of
large and medium-gauge vessels. Studies have shown that exposure to low doses
can improve the disease by reducing inflammation, so we wanted to understand
how ionizing radiation modulates the immune system.
To do this, we used mouse models
"mimicking" atherosclerosis, which we irradiated at low doses. We
noticed that the ionizing radiation mainly affected monocytes and macrophages,
cells of the innate immunity that are very important for the development of the
disease. Moreover, these effects were more important at the highest dose where
we observed a significant reduction in inflammation. Finally, we also showed
that the effects of low doses could persist long after irradiation.
