title: Acute radiation effect in the brain in infant rats: Neurocognitive and histopathological examination.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to evaluate the radiation-induced cognitive dysfunction and the radioprotective effect of amifostine (AMI) in the brain of infantile rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty 2-week-old rats were randomly assigned into 3 groups of 10 rats each. Group 1: control (CONT), group 2: radiation alone (RT), and group 3: AMI before radiation (AMI+RT). The rats in the RT and AMI+RT groups were irradiated individually with a single dose of 20 Gy. All animals were evaluated by using the Morris water maze test to evaluate of their cognitive functions. Histopathological analyses of the hippocampus were also carried out after euthanasia.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study showed that the place navigational function and the spatial probe test were not significantly different between the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It can be said that it is very important to determine when the radiation-induced brain injury is formed. From a clinical perspective, the patients can be intervened before irreversible functional deficits are formed and may be amenable to treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Trakya University, Faculty of Medicine, Edirne, Turkey.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gorker
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yurut-Caloglu
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Karadag
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Caloglu
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Altaner
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cengiz
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ozen
mesh_terms: D004999:Amifostine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D011837:Radiation-Protective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D011837:Radiation-Protective Agents; D004999:Amifostine