J Vet Sci. 2006 Mar;7(1):19-23   
 

Histopathological changes of testes and eyes by neutron irradiation with boron compounds in mice

Yeon-Joo Kim1, Won-Ki Yoon2, SI-Yun Ryu1, Ki-Jung Chun3, Hwa-Young Son1, Sung-Whan Cho1, *

 

1College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, Korea 2Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-333, Korea.3Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon 305-353, Korea. swcho@cnu.ac.kr

 

This study was performed to investigate the biological effects of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT)on the testes and eyes in mice using HANARO Nuclear Reactor, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute.BNCT relies on the high capacity of 10B in capturing thermal neutrons. Sodium borocaptate (BSH, 75 ppm, iv)and borono-phenylalanine (BPA, 750 ppm, ip)have been used as the boron delivery agents.Mice were irradiated with neutron(flux:1.036739E +09, Fluence 9.600200E+12)by lying flatpose for 30 (10 Gy)or 100 min (33 Gy)with or without boron carrier treatment.In 45 days of irradiation, histopathological changes of the testes and eyes were examined.Thirty-three Gy neutron irradiation for 100 min induced testicular atrophy in which some of seminiferous tubules showed complete depletion of spermatogenic germ cells.Lens epithelial cells and lens fiber were swollen and showed granular changes in an exposure time dependent manner.However, boron carrier treatment had no significant effect on the lesions.These results suggest that the examination of histopathological changes of lens and testis can be used as ˇ°biological dosimeters ˇ±for gauging radiation responses and the HANARO Nuclear Reactor has sufficient capacities for the BNCT.