Modeling Space Radiation Induced Bone Changes in Rat Femurs through Finite Element Analysis.

As the duration of manned missions outside of the Earth's protective shielding increase, astronauts are at risk for exposure to space radiation. Various organ systems may be damaged due to exposure. This study investigates the bone strength changes using finite element modeling of Long Evans rats (n=85) subjected to graded, head-only proton (0, 10, 25, and 100 cGy, 150 MeV/n) and silicon (0, 10, 25, and 50 cGy, 300 MeV/n) radiation.