Bone Metabolism Damages by Heavy Ion Irradiation Locally to the Neck in Rats

INTRODUCTION Heavy ion particle radiation is interesting to know biological effects of space radiation. There are problems to assess the magnitude of radiation-induced damages in the astronauts. It is known that the bone minerals reduce after flight, the cause might be estimated by mainly microgravity. However, there are few studies on effects of heavy ion particle irradiation to bone metabolism, although the RBE value is estimated to be large than those of xor gamma ray. The parathyroid is an important organ to regulate bone metabolism as well as calcium balance in the body. The present study was to elucidate alteration in bone and calcium metabolism followed by damages in parathyroid after heavy ion particle irradiation to the neck of rats, and compare the obtained results to those from whole body or locally bone irradiation.