A New Murine Highly Localized High-Dose Muscle Radiation Model as a Tool to Develop Innovative Countermeasures to Treat Radio-Induced Muscular Lesions

Acute localized irradiation accidents may evolve into a musculocutaneous radiation-induced syndrome that leaves a significant underlying muscle defect despite standard treatment. The identification of new therapeutic targets is, therefore, necessary to improve post-irradiation muscle repair. Thus, the validation of an in vivo model of radiation-induced muscle injury has been initiated in C57Bl/6J mice. In the model presented in this study, the high-dose ionizing radiation exposure is focused on gastrocnemius and soleus muscles, does not affect bones, and is a part of hindlimb vascularization. It aims at identifying original metabolic pathways specifically involved in muscle damage and evaluating innovative therapeutic strategies.