A concise review of the emerging applications of synchrotron generated microbeams in the treatment of brain disorders

Synchrotron-generated X-ray microplanar beams (microbeams) are characterized by the ability to avoid widespread tissue damage following delivery of doses ranging from hundreds to over a thousand Gray. The preservation of tissue architecture following high-dose microbeam irradiation is known as “tissue-sparing effect” and is strictly related to the ability of microbeams to restrict spatially these exceedingly high doses to the beam path with minimal doses spreading outside to the adjacent tissue. Image-guided microbeam radiosurgery has been recently used to generate cortical transections or to induce deep-seated lesions in the rat brain. The ability to generate focal lesions or microscopic transections over the eloquent and non-eloquent cortex in experimental animals is of great interest for the development of experimental models in neurobiology, opening new treatment avenues for a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders originating from focal brain dysfunction. This paper reviews the current state of research on the radiobiological properties of synchrotron-generated microscopic X-ray beams and their emerging microradiosurgical application, with special reference to the treatment of a variety of brain disorders.