Keywords
Neuroscience, mice, behavior, neurocognitive, radiation
Select the category the research project fits.
Life Sciences
Is this submission part of ICaP/PW (Introductory Composition at Purdue/Professional Writing)?
Yes
Abstract
Pediatric brain cancer patients are at a high risk for radiation induced cognitive impairment due to white matter changes in the brain. Half of six-month radiotherapy survivors develop significant changes in white matter. Previous research has shown that a mouse model can be used to show similar cognitive and behavioral deficits shown in human patients. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of two drug therapies, Donepezil and 3,3-Diindolylmethane, (DIM), that could be used to either protect the brain from radiation injury or cure the cognitive injury and behavioral deficits that result from whole-brain irradiation. This project consisted of two parts: administration of Donepezil post-radiation as a symptomatic cure and administration of DIM before radiation as a protectant. The mice received 30 gray whole brain radiation and their behavioral changes were measured at 4 and 8 weeks post-radiation. The behavioral changes were observed using two tests: Open Field Test and a Marble Burying test. The goal of using these tests was to see if the treated mice would have results closer to the baselines established in previous research. From our data, we observed Donepezil to be an ineffective form of therapy, as the deficits did not improve. However, DIM has shown to be a promising protectant drug therapy as the behavioral data is close to the results of a healthy control. This research validates the potential of DIM to be used as a radio protectant in preventing radiation injury from occurring and also preventing any cognitive deficits following.
Recommended Citation
Yuska, Rachel, "Developing Drug Therapies for Cognitive Damage in Mice Following Brain Radiation" (2019). Purdue Undergraduate Research Conference. 35.
https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/purc/2019/Posters/35
Developing Drug Therapies for Cognitive Damage in Mice Following Brain Radiation
Pediatric brain cancer patients are at a high risk for radiation induced cognitive impairment due to white matter changes in the brain. Half of six-month radiotherapy survivors develop significant changes in white matter. Previous research has shown that a mouse model can be used to show similar cognitive and behavioral deficits shown in human patients. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the effectiveness of two drug therapies, Donepezil and 3,3-Diindolylmethane, (DIM), that could be used to either protect the brain from radiation injury or cure the cognitive injury and behavioral deficits that result from whole-brain irradiation. This project consisted of two parts: administration of Donepezil post-radiation as a symptomatic cure and administration of DIM before radiation as a protectant. The mice received 30 gray whole brain radiation and their behavioral changes were measured at 4 and 8 weeks post-radiation. The behavioral changes were observed using two tests: Open Field Test and a Marble Burying test. The goal of using these tests was to see if the treated mice would have results closer to the baselines established in previous research. From our data, we observed Donepezil to be an ineffective form of therapy, as the deficits did not improve. However, DIM has shown to be a promising protectant drug therapy as the behavioral data is close to the results of a healthy control. This research validates the potential of DIM to be used as a radio protectant in preventing radiation injury from occurring and also preventing any cognitive deficits following.