Establishing the Japan-Store house of animal radiobiology experiments (J-SHARE), a large-scale necropsy and histopathology archive providing international access to important radiobiology data

Abstract

Purpose: Projects evaluating the effects of radiation, within the National Institutes of Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST), National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), have focused on risk analyses for life shortening and cancer prevalence using laboratory animals. Genetic and epigenetic alterations in radiation-induced tumors have been also analyzed with the aim of better understanding mechanisms of radiation carcinogenesis. As well as the economic and practical limitations of repeating such large-scale experiments, ethical considerations make it vital that we store and share the pathological data and samples of the animal experiments for future use. We are now constructing such an archive called the Japan-Storehouse of Animal Radiobiology Experiments (J-SHARE).

Methods: J-SHARE records include information such as detailed experimental protocols, necropsy records and photographs of organs at necropsy. For each animal organs and tumor tissues are dissected, and parts are stored as frozen samples at −80 °C. Samples fixed with formalin are also embedded in paraffin blocks for histopathological analyses. Digital copies of stained tissues are being systematically saved using a virtual slide system linked to original records by barcodes. Embedded and frozen tissues are available for molecular analysis.

Conclusion: Similar archive systems for radiation biology have also been under construction in the USA and Europe, the Northwestern University Radiation Archive (NURA), and STORE at the BfS, respectively. The J-SHARE will be linked with the sister-archives and made available for collaborative research to institutions and universities all over the world.

Keywords:

• Animal experiments
• archive
• tissue specimen
• database
• pathology

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Ms. Yoshika Kin (QST-NIRS) for preparing the data and samples.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Takamitsu Morioka

Takamitsu Morioka, PhD, is a Section Manager at Department of Radiation Effects Research, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Japan. His research interests are mechanism analysis of tumorigenesis related with radiation exposure and prevention study of radiation-induced cancer.

Benjamin J. Blyth

Benjamin J. Blyth is a radiation biologist previously at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Japan and now at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia. His research interests include both radiation carcinogenesis and radiotherapy-induced metastasis.

Tatsuhiko Imaoka

Tatsuhiko Imaoka, PhD, is a Team Leader at Department of Radiation Effects Research, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Japan. His research interest spans basic radiation biology, including that of tissue stem cells, to understand the quantitative nature of radiation carcinogenesis and application of quantum mechanics and related technologies to radiation biology.

Mayumi Nishimura

Mayumi Nishimura is a Senior Expert at Department of Radiation Effects Research, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Japan. Her interest is radiation biology including mammary carcinogenesis and its modification.

Hiroshi Takeshita

Hiroshi Takeshita is a Senior Expert at Department of Information Technology, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Japan.

Takeo Shimomura

Takeo Shimomura is a Principal Researcher at Department of Information Technology, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Japan.

Jun Ohtake

Jun Ohtake is a Chief at Department of Information Technology, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Japan.

Atsuro Ishida

Atsuro Ishida, is a Section Manager at Department of Radiation Emergency Medicine, Center for Advanced Radiation Emergency Medicine, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Sciences and Technology, Japan.

Paul Schofield

Paul N. Schofield is a Leader in Biomedical Informatics at the University of Cambridge and Adjunct Professor at the Jackson Laboratory, Maine, USA.

Bernd Grosche

Bernd Grosche is an epidemiologist, now retired, and formally Senior Scientist at the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, Germany.

Ulrike Kulka

Ulrike Kulka is a biologist, Acting Head of Section of Radiation Biology and Head of Section Biological Dosimetry, Federal Office for Radiation Protection, Germany.

Yoshiya Shimada

Yoshiya Shimada, PhD, is the President of Institute for Environmental Sciences, Japan. His research interest is radiation carcinogenesis including risk modification by age, lifestyle and environmental factors.

Yutaka Yamada

Yutaka Yamada, DVM, PhD, is a Director at Department of Radioecology and Fukushima Project, Center for Advanced Radiation Emergency Medicine, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Sciences and Technology, Japan. His main field is radiation biology and radiotoxicology, and he has been focused on the radiation-induced pulmonary carcinogenesis.

Shizuko Kakinuma

Shizuko Kakinuma, PhD, is a Director at Department of Radiation Effects Research, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Japan. Her research interest is radiation carcinogenesis including the risk of high linear energy transfer particles and age dependence.