Purpose To establish and characterize radiation-induced esophagitis (RIE) in vivo and in
vitro. Methods and Materials Fractionated thoracic irradiation at 0, 8, 12, or 15 Gy was given
daily for 5 days to Balb/c or C57Bl/6 mice. Changes in body weight gain and daily food
intake were assessed. At the end of the study, we removed the esophagus and examined
histology by hematoxylin and eosin staining, immune cell infiltration and apoptosis by
fluorescence-activated cell sorting, and gene expression changes by quantitative real-time …

(iii) gene expression changes by qRT-PCR. Het-1A human esophageal epithelial cells were
irradiated at 6 Gy, treated with recombinant human growth factors, and examined for gene
expression changes, apoptosis, proliferation, and signal transduction pathways. Results: We
observed that irradiation at 12 Gy or 15 Gy per fraction produced a significant body weight
reduction and decreased food intake in Balb/c mice, but not so much in C57Bl/6 mice.
Further analyses of Balb/c mice irradiated at 12 Gy/fraction revealed an attenuated …