Affiliations: Department of Radiotherapy, Medical and Health Science Center, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary | Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Oncotherapy, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary | Department of Operative Techniques and Surgical Research, Institute of Surgery, Medical and Health Science Center, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
Note: [] Corresponding author: Norbert Nemeth, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Operative Techniques and Surgical Research, Medical and Health Science Centre, University of Debrecen, H-4032 Debrecen, Nagyerdei krt. 98., Hungary. Tel./Fax: +36 52 416 915; E-mail: nemeth@med.unideb.hu
Abstract: Despite of the studies on widespread biological effects of irradiation, surprisingly only little number of papers can be found dealing with its in vivo hemorheological impact. Furthermore, other studies suggested that low-dose irradiation might differ from high-dose in more than linear ways. On Balb/c Jackson female adult mice hematological and hemorheological impacts of total body irradiation were investigated 1 hour following 0.002, 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05 and 0.1 Gy dose irradiation. In case of 0.01 Gy further groups were analyzed 30 minutes, 2, 4, 6, 24 and 48 h after irradiation. According to the results, it seems that the dose-dependent changes of blood micro-rheological parameters are not linear. The irradiation dose of 0.01 Gy acted as a point of ‘inflexion’, because by this dose we found the most expressed changes in hematological parameters, as well as in red blood cell aggregation, deformability and osmoscan data. The time-dependent changes showed progressive decrease in pH, rise in lactate concentration, further decrease in erythrocyte aggregation index and deformability, with moderate shifting of the optimal osmolarity point and modulation in membrane stability. As conclusion, low-dose total body irradiation may cause micro-rheological changes, being non-linearly correlated with the irradiation dose.
Keywords: Red blood cell deformability, red blood cell aggregation, osmotic gradient ektacytometry, low-dose irradiation, mice
