INITIATION OF NONNEOPLASTIC LATE EFFECTS - THE ROLE OF ENDOTHELIUM AND CONNECTIVE-TISSUE

While early radiation lesions might be a direct consequence of parench ymal cell loss, late-radiation injury most probably develops as a cons equence of functional perturbations that may involve both parenchymal and nonparenchymal elements. Damage to blood vessels and consequent pe rturbations in blood flow and endothelial phgsiology play an important role in the development of late effects. The development of late-radi ation damage has been studied in three different tissue systems: the s kin, kidney and central nervous system, The results suggested that dam age to vascular tissue played a major role in the development of radia tion-induced late effects.