الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Introduction: Oral mucositis following radiotherapy is still a major problem in head and neck cancer treatment. Deferoxamine (DFO), is an iron chelator drug with some properties that might enable it to be a good treatment option for such cases. Aim of the study: This work aimed at evaluating the possible effect of DFO on oral mucositis of the rat’s ventral surface of tongue induced by irradiation. Materials and methods: 84 male adult Albino rats were divided equally into 4 groups: group Ⅰ (control): didn’t receive irradiation or DFO. group Ⅱ (irradiated): received a single dose of 10 Gray (Gy) irradiation to head and neck. group Ⅲ (DFO before irradiation): intraperitoneally injected daily with prepared DFO solution at dose of 50 mg/kg for three successive days before irradiation to head and neck by 10 Gy single dose of irradiation. group Ⅳ (DFO after irradiation): intraperitoneally injected daily with prepared DFO solution at dose of 50 mg/kg for three successive days after irradiation to head and neck by 10 Gy single dose of irradiation. Each group was divided equally to three subgroups A, B, C being sacrificed at six, nine and 12 days respectively. Their tongues were dissected and the ventral surfaces were processed for H&E staining and VEGF immunolocalization. Results: Histologically, irradiated group showed apparent thinning of epithelium, keratin detachment, cytoplasmic vacuolations, dilation of BVs & degeneration in LP and muscle fibers. Both DFO-treated groups (group Ⅲ, Ⅳ) showed improvement in their histological picture compared to irradiated group in form of increase in their epithelial thickness, decreased cytoplasmic vacuolations and minimal degeneration in LP and muscle fibers. Immunohistochemically, the irradiated group showed faint localized immunoexpression of VEGF in epithelium and C.T cells with areas of negative expression. Both DFO-treated groups (group Ⅲ, Ⅳ) showed marked diffuse VEGF immunopositivity in the epithelium and positive immunoexpression in C.T cells. Conclusion: DFO showed positive effect in minimizing the deteriorative effect of regional radiotherapy on normal oral mucosa. Keywords: oral mucositis, deferoxamine, vascular endothelial growth factor, irradiation, ventral tongue. |