ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the gastric changes in adult male Sprague-Dawly (SD) rats irradiated by the single large dose electron beam,providing animal experimental evidence for intraoperative radiotherapy for gastric cancer.Methods Thirty-eight SD rats were randomly divided into the control and experimental groups.The stomach of the rats in the experimental group were subject to single 6 MeV 20 Gy irridiation by using the patent technology of Accurate Irradiation Experiment Table for Small Animal Radiation.The general conditions,gastric injury and body weight change were observed at different days following irradiation.Results The most severe gastric damage of rats was observed on the 14th d after irradiation.The gastric injury was gradually repaired accompanied with glandular atrophy at 28 d postirradiation,and the gastric injury was manifested as cellulose fibrinous repair on the 56th d after irradiation.Within 1 week post-irradiation,weight loss was noted in the experimental group,which significantly differed from the rats in the control group (P＜0.05).During the 2nd week,the body weight was increased in the experimental group,significantly lower compared with the rats in the control group (P＜ 0.05).The body weight of rats did not significantly differ between two groups at 6 weeks after irradiation (P＞ 0.05).Conclusions The most severe gastric injury is observed at 2 weeks after the single-dose 6 MeV electron beam 20 Gy irradiation,whereas no gastric perforation occurs.The gastric injury can be restored to normal status within 8 weeks following irradiation.