AN EXPERMENTAL STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF COBALT-60 RADIATION OF THE TEETH OF THE RAT

Co-60 방사선 조사가 백서 치아에 미치는 영향에 관한 실험적 연구

This study was undertaken to compare the histopathological effects of the fractionated doses of 2,400, 4,800 and 7,200 rads of Cobalt-60 irradiation on the teeth of the sixty eight rats (Wester strain), weighing approximately 130gm. They were devided into four groups; no irradiation as a control (Group I) and others (Group II, III, and IV) which received different doses of radiation using 1.25 Mev RAC-120 Cobalt-60 Teletherapy Unit with exposure dose rate 69 rads/min, TSD 80cm. Experimental animals received 600 rads every three days until the total dosage of their groups were reached. Experimental animals were sacrified at the 1st day, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th week irradiation. The following histopathologic findings were obtained: 1. The Group II, received 2,400 rads, showed no histopamologic changes essentially same as those of the control Group. 2. In the Groups III and IV, received 4,800 rads and 7,200 rads, disarray of the normal palasading arrangement of the odontoblastic cells, vacuolar degeneration in the odontoblastic layer, osteodentin and dentinal niches in the anterior teeth were observed. 3. There were no distinct changes in the posterior teeth in the Groups III and IV. 4. The ameloblast cells seemed to be less sensitive to radiation damage than the odontoblast cells.