Abstract #1466

Longitudinal MRI characterizes the impact of prenatal irradiation on ageing

Tine Verreet^1,2, Janaki Raman Rangarajan^3,4,5, Kristof Govaerts^5,6, Frederik Maes^3,4, Sarah Baatout¹, Lieve Moons², Mohammed A Benotmane¹, and Uwe Himmelreich^5,6

¹Radiobiology Unit, Molecular and Cellular Biology, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, SCK•CEN, Mol, Belgium, ²Laboratory of Neural Circuit Development and Regeneration, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Leuven, Belgium, ³Electrical Engineering (ESAT-PSI), University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Leuven, Belgium, ⁴Medical IT, iMinds, Leuven, Belgium, ⁵Molecular Small Animal Imaging Center (MoSAIC), Faculty of Medicine, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Leuven, Belgium, ⁶Biomedical MRI Unit, Department of Imaging and Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Leuven, Belgium

Prenatal exposure to ionising radiation can severely compromise brain development, leading to functional impairment of the brain. Behavioral deficits and/or morphological alterations have been reported, but the consequences of prenatal irradiation at older age remains unexplored. We irradiated pregnant mice with different doses (0.05 to 1.0Gy) at embryonic day 11 and investigated structural sequelae at an old age using in vivo longitudinal MRI. Apart from small brain size, we noticed predominant regional changes and increase in brain volume as the mice aged (unlike humans). Hippocampus seems to be affected by exposure to even low-doses and relates to impaired spatio-cognitive performance.

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