Cranial radiotherapy (CRT) is an effective way to prevent CNS relapse in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, CRT also has serious side effects on normal tissues, including long-term neuroendocrine disturbances. In order to test this clinical protocol on animals, we examined the effects of CRT (10 Gy) on the level of mRNA for glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) in the hippocampus of 8-days-old rats. Irradiation rapidly stimulated GR gene expression in a time-dependent manner, whereas the time-course of MR mRNA expression showed no statistically significant changes. At postnatal day 42, the level of GR mRNA was diminished while the level of MR mRNA remained unchanged compared to matched controls. Dexamethasone suppression test (DST) revealed the altered nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of activated GR after CRT in 42-days-old rats, as a long-term consequence of gamma irradiation.Physical chemistry 2006 : 8th international conference on fundamental and applied aspects of physical chemistry; Belgrade (Serbia); 26-29 September 200
