Efficacy of boron neutron capture therapy on liver metastases of colon adenocarcinoma: optical and ultrastructural study in the rat
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Abstract
The effect of neutron boron capture therapy (BNCT)
was studied in rat tumor liver cells after induction of the liver
metastases by splenic inoculation of cells from DHA/K12/TRb
line. Ten days following the treatment, the BPA was injected
into rats and therefore the animals were sacrificed, the liver
was exposed to neutron irradiation and processed. In some
experiments the liver was reimplanted (after irradiation) in
syngenic animals and studied 3 days later, following
sacrifice. Samples of tissue obtained from metastasised and
non-metastasised areas of the liver parenchyma, before and
after the neutron irradiation, were examined in light
microscopy and electron microscopy. The analysis pointed
out damages induced by the neutron treatment in single
tumor cells mostly localised in the synusoidal blood stream.
Debris and apoptotic cells were sometimes observed in the
neoplastic nodules before treatment, while the tumor cell death
(apoptosis) increased in the tumor cells following BNCT
treatment. An intense scavenger activity of Kupffer cells after
irradiation was accompanied by a strong acid phosphatase
reaction detectable in wide cytoplasmic areas. In the liver
parenchyma of reimplanted animals, the presence of large
collagen bundles spread among the hepatocytes was observed
at electron microscopy