Ultrastructural microvascular response to boron neutron capture therapy in an experimental model.

A CD 344 rat glioma model currently used to investigate boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) was used to demonstrate an increased survival rate after thermal neutron irradiation enhanced by administration of 10B-enriched polyhedral borane, Na2B12H11SH. To investigate the possible effects of BNCT on normal and tumor microvasculature, we subjected animals to sublethal neutron irradiation with and without intravenous injection of 50 mg/kg of enriched 10B and performed histological and ultrastructural analyses. In the rats that did not undergo tumor transplantation, minimal detectable morphological changes in the microvasculature of the central nervous system were observed after treatment, both in the immediate posttreatment phase and at 10 months. Light microscopy of cerebral cortex and caudate nucleus showed normal cytoarchitecture with no evidence of vessel occlusion, hyalinization, thickening, or reactive gliosis. Electron microscopy demonstrated that the junctional complexes of the endothelial cells, the basal lamina, and the perivascular glia were comparable in both treated and control animals. In those animals examined at 18 months, pathological membrane-bound clusters of electron-dense vesicles were seen in pericytes. In the rats implanted with gliomas, vascular proliferation with evidence of breakdown of the blood-brain barrier and vasogenic edema occurred. In the irradiated animals, we noted increased peritumoral edema 3 days after treatment. At seven days, both increased peritumoral edema and necrosis were noted in the rats treated with BNCT. These observations show that the normal microvasculature of the central nervous system tolerates BNCT at the treatment parameters used in our experimental model; the progressive edema and necrosis found in the peritumoral region after BNCT indicate a pathological endothelial response.