抄録
In order to elucidate the effects of ionizing radiation on a specific brain region individually without a mutual interaction with other brain regions, we have developed an experimental system for irradiating a small and restricted region of the rat brain, using accelerated heavy-ion beams to administer a large radiation dose in the vicinity of the endpoint in the beam range. Male Sprague-Dawley rats aged 10-14 weeks were used. The left cerebral hemispheres of the rat brains were irradiated at doses of 30, 50 or 100 Gy with charged carbon particles. The spread-out Bragg peak used here successfully and satisfactorily retained its high-dose localization in the defined region. Gross anatomy of the brain was examined using a clinical MRI system at different ages of the rats after accelerated heavy-ion irradiation. Behavioral and histological changes were observed with time course and these changes were compared with MRI examination of the rats of the same age. [J Radiat Res 44:403 (2003)]
