title: The effects of soft laser (He-Ne) irradiation on pineal parenchyma. Ultrastructural and pinealocyte caryometric modifications.
abstract: A study is made of the ultrastructure and variations in pinealocyte caryometric indices in 45 male albino rats (240 +/- 40 gm). Fifteen animals were subjected to exposed pineal body irradiation for 6 continuous minutes with soft He-Ne laser light. The irradiated rats were sacrificed in groups of five 3, 6 and 15 days post-irradiation. The control and sham-operated (craniotomy without irradiation) groups consisted of the same number of animals as the experimental groups. The results show a significant decrease in indices (p less than 0.0005) in all experimental groups in relation to the control and sham-operated animals, although in terms of the latter p for the three days post-irradiation group was 0.002. A progressive and significant decrease (p less than 0.002) was also observed between the experimental groups after 3 and 15 days and after 6 and 15 days, but not between the experimental groups after 3 and 6 days. Ultrastructurally, there were signs of secretory activity increase in the groups after 3 and 6 days, and decrease in such activity after 15 days--along with the appearance of cells of mesoglial lineage. A significant increase was observed in the number of peri-canalicular dark cells. The results are discussed and compared with those of other authors and different light energies.
authors.affiliation: Morphological Sciences Department, Valencia University, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Martinez Soriano
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ochando
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hernandez Gil de Tejada
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cimas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006371:Helium; D007620:Karyometry; D007834:Lasers; D008297:Male; D009356:Neon; D010870:Pineal Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000528:radiation effects* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D006371:Helium; D009356:Neon