MOUSE MODEL TO STUDY IRRADIATION EFFECTS ON BRAIN EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX IN VIVO

Radiotherapy is an integral part of anti-glioblastoma treatment. However, an increase in its efficiency and protection of normal tissues against the toxic effects of ionizing radiation remain important issues. That needs more experimental studies on animal models in vivo. To investigate radiation effects onto glioblastoma microenvironment, we engineered a reliable and cost-effective mouse model suitable for brain tissue irradiation. Two-month-old male CBL/6Bl mice were used, and key components for the radiotherapy animal model (anaesthesia type, X-ray source, irradiation dose) were determined. Injection with zoletil/domitor combination was selected as the most suitable for brain research due to negligible short-term effects (24-72 hours) to brain tissue morphology and the expression of proteoglycans (PGs) as main extracellular components of brain tissue. X-ray irradiation of mouse brain with a 7Gy was suggested as an optimal single dose for multiple irradiation experiments corresponding to anti-glioblastoma radiotherapy regimen. Both research synchrotron and clinical linear accelerator demonstrated similar irradiation effects on brain tissue suggesting admissibility of comparative analysis of the results obtained in different irradiation experiments. Overall, this study describes a novel affordable mouse model in vivo to study radiotherapy effects on brain tissue and tumour microenvironment.