Establishment of a Standardized Rat Model of Chronic Radiation Proctitis and Preliminary Evaluation of Its Association with Tubulin

Establishment of a Standardized Rat Model of Chronic Radiation Proctitis and Preliminary Evaluation of Its Association with Tubulin | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Establishment of a Standardized Rat Model of Chronic Radiation Proctitis and Preliminary Evaluation of Its Association with Tubulin Yu Chang, Rong Sun, Ke Zeng, Juan Wei, Xin Jin, Haoyu Xu, Zheng Xu, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8722154/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background Chronic radiation proctitis, a major complication of pelvic radiotherapy, lacks effective treatments and a standardized animal model that recapitulates its late fibrotic and angiogenic pathologies. Aim This study aimed to establish a chronic radiation injury model resembling the progression of human radiation proctitis. Serial endoscopic observations were conducted to examine long-term rectal mucosal changes in rats post-irradiation, and the relationship with cytoskeletal proteins was preliminarily assessed. Methods The rats were randomly divided into 12 groups, including radiation dose groups of 12.5–37.5 Gy and a control group. A single-batch irradiation method was used to establish the model. The degree of rectal injury and progression over six months were assessed using endoscopic observations, the modified Vienna rectal endoscopic scoring system, and histological methods. Results Below 20 Gy, mucosal injury was negligible following resolution of acute inflammation.20–35 Gy, marked capillary dilation appeared around the eighth week post-irradiation, ultimately resulting in persistent radiation-induced proctitis. At 20 Gy, a sharp decrease in cytoskeletal proteins, particularly tubulin, was observed. This reduction correlated with the eventual development of chronic radiation injury in the 20–35 Gy groups. Moreover, VEGF was upregulation in the chronic phase. Conclusions A single rectal irradiation of 25 Gy is recommended to simplify the model establishment process and achieve successful induction of chronic radiation proctitis in rats while ensuring survival. When assessing pharmacological interventions for radiation proctitis, the observation period should be extended to at least eight weeks. Chronic radiation proctitis Endoscopic views༛Endoscopic scoring Tubulin Rat model Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8722154","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":585482296,"identity":"e4090e1b-e8b1-4f59-8d24-f6c1f53d04c4","order_by":0,"name":"Yu Chang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Jinling Clinical Medical College, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yu","middleName":"","lastName":"Chang","suffix":""},{"id":585482299,"identity":"45500a2c-53c1-45bf-aa87-4fe8e57e3409","order_by":1,"name":"Rong Sun","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Jinling Hospital, Affiliated 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Tubulin","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Chronic radiation proctitis, Endoscopic views༛Endoscopic scoring, Tubulin, Rat model","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8722154/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8722154/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBackground\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChronic radiation proctitis, a major complication of pelvic radiotherapy, lacks effective treatments and a standardized animal model that recapitulates its late fibrotic and angiogenic pathologies.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAim\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis study aimed to establish a chronic radiation injury model resembling the progression of human radiation proctitis. Serial endoscopic observations were conducted to examine long-term rectal mucosal changes in rats post-irradiation, and the relationship with cytoskeletal proteins was preliminarily assessed.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMethods\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe rats were randomly divided into 12 groups, including radiation dose groups of 12.5\u0026ndash;37.5 Gy and a control group. A single-batch irradiation method was used to establish the model. The degree of rectal injury and progression over six months were assessed using endoscopic observations, the modified Vienna rectal endoscopic scoring system, and histological methods.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eResults\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBelow 20 Gy, mucosal injury was negligible following resolution of acute inflammation.20\u0026ndash;35 Gy, marked capillary dilation appeared around the eighth week post-irradiation, ultimately resulting in persistent radiation-induced proctitis. At 20 Gy, a sharp decrease in cytoskeletal proteins, particularly tubulin, was observed. This reduction correlated with the eventual development of chronic radiation injury in the 20\u0026ndash;35 Gy groups. Moreover, VEGF was upregulation in the chronic phase.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eConclusions\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA single rectal irradiation of 25 Gy is recommended to simplify the model establishment process and achieve successful induction of chronic radiation proctitis in rats while ensuring survival. When assessing pharmacological interventions for radiation proctitis, the observation period should be extended to at least eight weeks.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Establishment of a Standardized Rat Model of Chronic Radiation Proctitis and Preliminary Evaluation of Its Association with Tubulin","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-02-06 21:05:02","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8722154/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"5a933d54-1644-403d-b2e8-24c4dbceb064","owner":[],"postedDate":"February 6th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-10T12:12:49+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-02-06 21:05:02","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8722154","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8722154","identity":"rs-8722154","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}