Development of a Mouse Model for Radiationinduced White Matter Injury
Abstract
The occurrence of brain injury due to radiation treatment is frequently observed in surviving patients, and this injury presents a number of complications in both diagnosis and treatment. Radiation damage to the brain can often lead to life-long adverse affects which are poorly understood and for which there is no cure. The exact nature of the radiation damage is still unclear, with a variety of hypothesis being evaluated including vascular damage, parenchymal damage, or a combination of both. A critical need is a mouse model that would mirror the pathological and radiological characteristics of radiation induced brain damage seen in patients. Such a model would allow many new avenues for understanding the nature of the radiation injury and what options can be used to protect patients. This thesis will explain our lab’s attempts at creating such a mouse model by using a 6 MeV LINAC to irradiate mice at varying doses, and evaluating the response over various time points. The model required the development of a novel mouse positioning deice to provide consistent placement and anesthesia for treatment. Immunohistology showed subtle effects in the white matter tract, with transient swell at 4 weeks post irradiation and development of late effects past 8 weeks post irradiation. MRI was unable to detect the narrow area of damaged tissue in the brain. The higher dose mice showed the most significant effects, and future research should focus on 25 or 30 Gy treatments.
Degree
M.S.
Advisors
Perez-Torres, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Health sciences
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