Reduction in radiation-induced brain injury by use of pentobarbital or lidocaine protection

Journal Article · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Journal of Neurosurgery; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3171/jns.1990.72.5.0737· OSTI ID:7006145

Oldfield, E H; Friedman, R; Kinsella, T; Moquin, R; Olson, J J; Orr, K; DeLuca, A M ^[1]

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1. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (USA)

To determine if barbiturates would protect brain at high doses of radiation, survival rates in rats that received whole-brain x-irradiation during pentobarbital- or lidocaine-induced anesthesia were compared with those of control animals that received no medication and of animals anesthetized with ketamine. The animals were shielded so that respiratory and digestive tissues would not be damaged by the radiation. Survival rates in rats that received whole-brain irradiation as a single 7500-rad dose under pentobarbital- or lidocaine-induced anesthesia was increased from between from 0% and 20% to between 45% and 69% over the 40 days of observation compared with the other two groups (p less than 0.007). Ketamine anesthesia provided no protection. There were no notable differential effects upon non-neural tissues, suggesting that pentobarbital afforded protection through modulation of ambient neural activity during radiation exposure. Neural suppression during high-dose cranial irradiation protects brain from acute and early delayed radiation injury. Further development and application of this knowledge may reduce the incidence of radiation toxicity of the central nervous system (CNS) and may permit the safe use of otherwise unsafe doses of radiation in patients with CNS neoplasms.

• OSTI ID: 7006145
• Journal Information: Journal of Neurosurgery; (USA), Vol. 72:5; ISSN 0022-3085
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BARBITURATES
RADIOSENSITIVITY EFFECTS
BRAIN
RADIATION DOSES
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
NEOPLASMS
RADIATION INJURIES
RATS
SURVIVAL CURVES
X RADIATION
ANESTHETICS
ANIMALS
AZINES
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
BODY
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM DEPRESSANTS
DISEASES
DOSES
DRUGS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
HYPNOTICS AND SEDATIVES
INJURIES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MAMMALS
NERVOUS SYSTEM
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
PYRIMIDINES
RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATIONS
RODENTS
VERTEBRATES
560152* - Radiation Effects on Animals- Animals