The use of iodine-125 (125I) in cancer treatment has been shown to relieve patients' pain. Considering dorsal root ganglia are critical for neural transmission between the peripheral and central nervous systems, Dr. Tengda Zhang and colleagues from Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, China assumed that 125I could be implanted into rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG) to provide relief for neuropathic pain. 125I seeds with different radioactivity (0, 14.8, 29.6 MBq) were implanted separately into the vicinity of the L5 DRG. Experimental results showed that the mechanical pain threshold was elevated after implanting 125I seeds without influencing motor functions of the hind limb, although cell injury was present. This article is released in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 12, 2014).
Myelin sheaths collapsed and the number of mitochondria was reduced in nerve fibers at 1,440 hours after implanting 29.6 MBq iodine-125 seeds.
(Photo Credit: Neural Regeneration Research)
Source: Neural Regeneration Research