Treating brain tumors with whole brain radiation therapy can injure healthy brain tissue, but a new study using lab mice demonstrated hypoxia can alleviate some of the cognitive impairment caused by the radiation.

The study’s findings were reported January 18, 2012, in the online journal PLoS ONE. The researchers, led by Dr. William Sonntag of the University of Oklahoma (Norman, USA), exposed the mice to a clinically appropriate regimen of radiation, which caused progressive decline of spatial learning starting approximately two months postradiation.

However, when mice were treated with chronic hypoxia for approximately three weeks, starting one month after radiation exposure, they showed considerable improvement in this area, which was maintained for at least two months after returning to normal oxygen levels.

The radiation treatment also caused an early deterioration in contextual learning and memory, but these deficiencies were short-lived and dissipated within three months postradiation.

 

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