Transfer of Minibeam Radiation Therapy into a cost-effective equipment for radiobiological studies: a proof of concept.

Minibeam radiation therapy (MBRT) is an innovative synchrotron radiotherapy technique able to shift the normal tissue complication probability curves to significantly higher doses. However, its exploration was hindered due to the limited and expensive beamtime at synchrotrons. The aim of this work was to develop a cost-effective equipment to perform systematic radiobiological studies in view of MBRT. Tumor control for various tumor entities will be addressable as well as studies to unravel the distinct biological mechanisms involved in normal and tumor tissues responses when applying MBRT. With that aim, a series of modifications of a small animal irradiator were performed to make it suitable for MBRT experiments. In addition, the brains of two groups of rats were irradiated. Half of the animals received a standard irradiation, the other half, MBRT. The animals were followed-up for 6.5 months. Substantial brain damage was observed in the group receiving standard RT, in contrast to the MBRT group, where no significant lesions were observed. This work proves the feasibility of the transfer of MBRT outside synchrotron sources towards a small animal irradiator.

Spatial and temporal MRI profile of ischemic tissue after the acute stages of a permanent mouse model of stroke.

OBJECT: To characterize the progression of injured tissue resulting from a permanent focal cerebral ischemia after the acute phase, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) monitoring was performed on adult male C57BL/6J mice in the subacute stages, and correlated to histological analyses. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Lesions were induced by electrocoagulation of the middle cerebral artery. Serial MRI measurements and weighted-images (T2, T1, T2* and Diffusion Tensor Imaging) were performed on a 9.4T scanner. Histological data (Cresyl-Violet staining and laminin-, Iba1- and GFAP-immunostainings) were obtained 1 and 2 weeks after the stroke. RESULTS: Two days after stroke, tissues assumed to correspond to the infarct core, were detected as a hyperintensity signal area in T2-weighted images. One week later, low-intensity signal areas appeared. Longitudinal MRI study showed that these areas remained present over the following week, and was mainly linked to a drop of the T2 relaxation time value in the corresponding tissues. Correlation with histological data and immuno-histochemistry showed that these areas corresponded to microglial cells. CONCLUSION: The present data provide, for the first time detailed MRI parameters of microglial cells dynamics, allowing its non-invasive monitoring during the chronic stages of a stroke. This could be particularly interesting in regards to emerging anti-inflammatory stroke therapies.

Reorganization of inhibitory synapses and increased PSD length of perforated excitatory synapses in hippocampal area CA1 of dystrophin-deficient mdx mice.

Dystrophin is a cytoskeletal membrane-bound protein expressed in both muscle and brain. Brain dystrophin is thought to be involved in the stabilization of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)(A)-receptor (GABA(A)-R)clusters in postsynaptic densities (PSDs) at inhibitory synapses onto pyramidal cells, and its loss has been linked to cognitive impairments in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Dystrophin-deficient mdx mice have learning deficits and altered synaptic plasticity in cornu ammonis (CA1) hippocampus, but the possibility that altered synapse morphology or distribution may underlie these alterations has not been examined. Here we used in vivo magnetic resonance imaging and histological analyses to assess brain volumetric and cytoarchitectonic abnormalities and quantitative electron microscopy to evaluate the density and ultrastructure of CA1 hippocampal synapses in mdx mice. We found that mdx mice have increased density of axodendritic symmetric inhibitory synapses and larger PSDs in perforated asymmetric excitatory synapses in the proximal, but not distal, CA1 apical dendrites that normally express dystrophin, in the absence of gross brain malformations. Data are discussed in light of the known molecular and neurophysiological alterations in mdx mice. We suggest that increased inhibitory synapse density reflects tenuous compensation of altered clustering of alpha2 subunit-containing GABA(A)-Rs in CA1 dendrites, whereas increased PSD length in perforated synapses suggests secondary alterations in excitatory synapse organization associated with enhanced synaptic excitation.

Study of muscle regeneration using in vitro 2D 1H spectroscopy.

The in vivo spectrum of regenerating muscles shows a specific cross-correlation signal assigned to the (n-3) fatty acyl chain, which peaks during the myoblast fusion phase. In order to identify the origin of this signal and to take all the lipid metabolites into account, we investigated the degeneration-regeneration process by 1H 2D NMR of lipid muscle extracts. We observed an increase in the total amount of lipids during the regeneration process, although the lipid profile did not show any drastic change during this process. The changes in the NMR signal observed in vivo and, in particular, the appearance of the specific (n-3) fatty acyl chain signal appears to arise from mobile lipid compartments located in fusing cells.

In vivo 2D magnetic resonance spectroscopy of small animals.

Localized in vivo NMR spectroscopy, chemical shift imaging or multi-voxel spectroscopy are potentially useful tools in small animals that are complementary to MRI, adding biochemical information to the mainly anatomical data provided by imaging of water protons. However the contribution of such methods remains hampered by the low spectral resolution of the in vivo 1D spectra. Two-dimensional methods widely developed for in vitro studies have been proposed as suitable approaches to overcome these limitations in resolution. The different homonuclear and heteronuclear sequences adapted to in vivo studies are reviewed. Their specific contributions to the spectral resolution of spectroscopic data and their limitations for in vivo investigations are discussed. The applications to experimental models of pathological processes or pharmacological treatment in mainly brain and muscle are presented. According to their combined sensitivity, acquisition duration and spatial resolution, the heteronuclear 2D experiments, which are mainly used for 1H detected-13C spectroscopy after administration of 13C-labeled compounds, appear to be less efficient than 1H detected-13C 1D methods at high field. However, the applications of 2D proton homonuclear methods show that they remain the best tools for in vivo studies when an improved resolution is required.

Appearance of lipidic signals in "stressed" cells: study of myogenic cultured cells by two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance.

The proton NMR spectra of regenerating muscle shoe high resolution fatty acid signals as the spectra of other stressed cells such as ischemic cardiac cells, stimulated immune cells or malignant cells. We report here the in vitro study, by 2D 1H NMR, of the fusion of myogenic cells. High resolution fatty acid signals are only detected during cell fusion, demonstrating a higher mobility of the acyl chains.