- 作者：Vijayalakshmi Sridharan ; Preeti Tripathi ; Sunil Sharma ; Eduardo G. Moros ; Junying Zheng ; Martin Hauer-Jensen ; Marjan Boerma
- 刊名：International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics
- 出版年：1 January, 2014
- 年：2014
- 卷：88
- 期：1
- 页码：167-174
- 全文大小：781 K
Purpose
Radiation-induced heart disease (RIHD) is a chronic severe side effect of radiation therapy of intrathoracic and chest wall tumors. The heart contains a dense network of sensory neurons that not only are involved in monitoring of cardiac events such as ischemia and reperfusion but also play a role in cardiac tissue homeostasis, preconditioning, and repair. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of sensory nerves in RIHD.Methods and Materials
Male Sprague-Dawley rats were administered capsaicin to permanently ablate sensory nerves, 2 weeks before local image-guided heart x-ray irradiation with a single dose of 21 Gy. During the 6 months of follow-up, heart function was assessed with high-resolution echocardiography. At 6 months after irradiation, cardiac structural and molecular changes were examined with histology, immunohistochemistry, and Western blot analysis.
Results
Capsaicin pretreatment blunted the effects of radiation on myocardial fibrosis and mast cell infiltration and activity. By contrast, capsaicin pretreatment caused a small but significant reduction in cardiac output 6 months after irradiation. Capsaicin did not alter the effects of radiation on cardiac macrophage number or indicators of autophagy and apoptosis.
Conclusions
These results suggest that sensory nerves, although they play a predominantly protective role in radiation-induced cardiac function changes, may eventually enhance radiation-induced myocardial fibrosis and mast cell activity.