Study of the relationship between radiation-induced taste cell injury and radiation mode in mice / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the relationship between radiation mode and radiation-induced taste cell injury in mouse models.Methods:The head and neck of adult C57/bl mice were exposed to 8 Gy irradiation for 1, 2 and 3 times and sacrificed at 2, 4, 7 and 14 d after irradiation. Frozen sections of taste papilla tissues were treated with specific markers by immunohistochemical staining. The changes of proliferative cells and the number of type Ⅱtaste cells at different time points under different radiation modes were observed. The effect of different radiation dose patterns upon the taste cells was assessed.Results:The count of proliferative cells was decreased significantly on the 2 nd day after radiation, and rapidly recovered to normal level on the 4 th day after radiation, which was not correlated with the dose mode. The number of type Ⅱ taste cells was decreased on the 2 nd day of the first 8 Gy radiation, decreased to the lowest on the 4 th day of the second and third 8 Gy radiation, and rose slowly on the 7 th day. Conclusions:Radiation can initially decrease and subsequently increase the number of proliferative cells to normal range. Besides, it can gradually repair the type Ⅱ taste cell injury. After high-dose irradiation, the decrease of progenitor cells with proliferative function leads to a synchronous decrease in the number of taste function cells, which may be the reason why taste dysfunction cannot be recovered for a long time after radiotherapy.