Radioprotection in Rat Spinal Cord with WR2721, WR77913 and WR3689 Following Cerebral Lateral Ventricular or Intracisternal Administration

The doses of radiotherapy that normal central nervous system (CNS) parenchyma and stroma can tolerate without injury are too low to provide cure for malignant astrocytic gliomas. One potential solution to this problem is to develop compounds that protect the normal CNS tissues more effectively than tumor cells against irradiation. The phosphorothioate radioprotectors such as WR2721, WR77913 and WR3689 are highly water-soluble and do not readily cross the blood-brain barrier. Injection of these drugs via routes that bypass the blood-brain barrier has allowed us to assess radioprotection in the rat cervical spinal cord.