Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40024988›Full record

ArticleBrain structure & function2025

Structural plasticity of pyramidal cell neurons measured after FLASH and conventional dose-rate irradiation.

Dara L Dickstein, Richard Zhang, Ning Ru, Marie-Catherine Vozenin, Bayley C Perry, Juan Wang, Janet E Baulch, Munjal M Acharya, Charles L Limoli

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Brain structure & function, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Microenvironmental remodeling in FLASH radiotherapy.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026
    Review
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Dara L DicksteinDepartment of Pathology, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA. dara.dickstein.ctr@usuhs.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0002-4142-8807
Richard ZhangDepartment of Radiation Oncology, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, CA, USA.
Ning RuDepartment of Radiation Oncology, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, CA, USA.
Marie-Catherine VozeninSecteur Radio-Oncologie et Radiobiologie, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2109-8073
Bayley C PerryDepartment of Pathology, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA.
Juan WangDepartment of Pathology, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA.
Janet E BaulchDepartment of Radiation Oncology, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1078-6946
Munjal M AcharyaDepartment of Radiation Oncology, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7767-5642
Charles L LimoliDepartment of Radiation Oncology, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, CA, USA. climoli@uci.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1321-4142

Funding

Univ.of Calif., Irvine Cancer Center Support GrantP30CA062203 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI Melanie Funes · 1994 to 2026
$57.9M
Project 4: Mechanistic Basics of FLASH Effect: Role of O2P01CA244091 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI LIMOLI, CHARLES · 2020 to 2024
$9.6M
Mechanisms underlying radiation-and chemotherapy induced cognitive impairment.R01NS089575 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI LIMOLI, CHARLES · 2015 to 2020
$2.8M
Improving pediatric brain tumor treatments using FLASH radiotherapyR01CA254892 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI Charles Limoli · 2021 to 2026
$2.5M
Glial immune signaling in radiation-induced brain injuryR01CA251110 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE · PI ACHARYA, MUNJAL M · 2021 to 2025
$2.3M
NCI NIH HHS P01 CA244091NCI NIH HHS P30 CA062203NCI NIH HHS R01 CA251110NCI NIH HHS R01 CA254892NIH HHS R01 CA251110NIH HHS R01 CA254892NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS089575NINDS NIH HHS R01NS089575
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Evidence shows that ultra-high dose-rate FLASH-radiotherapy (FLASH-RT) provides relative protection against normal tissue complications and functional decrements in the irradiated brain. Past work has shown that radiation-induced cognitive impairment, neuroinflammation and reduced structural complexity ofgranule cell neurons were not observed to the same extent after FLASH-RT (> MGy/s) compared to conventional dose-rate (CONV, 0.1 Gy/s) delivery. In this study, we explored the sensitivity of hippocampal CA1 and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) pyramidal neurons to cranial irradiation and dose-rate modulation using electron and confocal microscopy. Neuron ultrastructural analyses by electron microscopy after 10 Gy FLASH- or CONV-RT exposures indicated that irradiation had little impact on dendritic complexity and synapse density in the CA1, but did increase the length and head diameter of smaller non-perforated synapses. Similarly, irradiation caused no change in mPFC prelimbic/infralimbic axospinous synapse density, but reductions in non-perforated synapse diameters. While irradiation resulted in thinner myelin sheaths compared to controls, none of these metrics were dose-rate sensitive. Analysis of fluorescently labeled CA1 neurons revealed no radiation-induced or dose-rate-dependent changes in overall dendritic complexity or spine density, in contrast to our past analysis of granule cell neurons. Super-resolution confocal microscopy following a clinical dosing paradigm (3 × 10 Gy) showed significant reductions in excitatory vesicular glutamate transporter 1 and inhibitory vesicular GABA transporter puncta density within the CA1 that were largely dose-rate independent. Collectively, these data reveal that, compared to granule cell neurons, CA1 and mPFC neurons are relatively more radioresistant irrespective of radiation dose-rate.

Indexed as

CA1 Region, HippocampalCranial IrradiationNeuronal PlasticityPrefrontal CortexPyramidal CellsAnimalsDendritesDose-Response Relationship, RadiationMaleRatsSynapses(4–6): FLASHCranial irradiationNeuronRadiotherapyStructural plasticity

Identifiers

PMID40024988
PMCPMC11872753

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.