Cranial radiotherapy profoundly affects glia without inducing widespread cellular senescence.

ABSTRACT:

Background

More than 70% of cancer patients who underwent cranial radiotherapy have cognitive problems, suggesting that they might undergo accelerated brain aging due to the cancer treatment. Radiotherapy is known to induce cellular senescence in tumors and in various cell types in vitro. Therefore, we hypothesized that cranial radiotherapy induces cellular senescence in the brain.

Methods

We treated male C57BL/6 mice with various dosages of (fractionated) CT-guided cranial radiotherapy. The brains were analyzed for various senescence and glial markers using immunohistochemistry, histochemistry, CosMx SMI and RT-qPCR. To contextualize the findings regarding cranial radiotherapy in young animals and assess whether these changes parallel natural aging, we studied the brains fr

SUBMITTER: Kuil LE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12908492 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature