Radiotherapy represents Gefitinib mw a significant part of the treatment regimen for malignant glioma [2–4]. To be sufficiently efficacious with acceptable toxicity, RT consists of 30 fractions of 2 Gy each, usually administered Monday-Friday for 6-7 weeks (42 days) in the tumor

volume with margins. The schedule is clearly defined and established in clinical practice [5]. Consequently, in preclinical studies evaluating adjuvant therapies, radiation therapy should be included. Previously, we used a fractionated radiation schedule delivering 36 Gy in 9 fractions of 4 Gy to treat C6 tumor bearing-rats [6]. We found that brain radiotherapy for rat 9L-glioma, which is the most common preclinical model used, is not standardized. Moreover, the schedules described in literature are highly heterogeneous (Table 1) [6–13]. To prove a potentially promising effect of a concomitant treatment and to compare different study results, the radiation therapy protocol must be well defined. Following a review of the literature, the aim of this study is to propose a brain irradiation protocol for rats that is closer to clinical practice, safe for small animals and easy to reproduce in the study of concomitant treatments for glioma. Table 1 Studies using radiation therapy rat model in combination with anticancer therapeutic agents Studies Target Tumor Cell line Total dose Number of fractions Survival Roullin VG (6) HB C6 36 Gy 9 Complete

response : 8% Graf MR (7) WB T9 15 Gy 1 35 days (median) Sinomenine Kimler BF (8) WB 9L 20 Gy 1 S       30 Gy 5 S Kimler BF (9) WB 9L 40-70 Gy 10-20 S Kimler BF (10) WB 9L 16 Gy 1 38.5 days (mean)

Kimler BF (11) Epacadostat cell line WB 9L 16 Gy 1 S       24 Gy 1 S       32 Gy 1 S       40 Gy 1 S Lamproglou I (12) WB – 30 Gy 10 – Olson JJ (13) WB 9L 30 Gy 1 29.7 days (mean) WB: Whole brain/HB: Hemibrain/S: Significant NB: Lamproglou worked on normal rat brains. Methods All experiments have been conducted under good experimental practices. All animal handling was carried out according to the European Community regulations and French Ministry of Agriculture regulations. Animals 20 females Fischer-344 rats were used for this study (Charles River, Cleon, France). Rats were ten weeks-old, and weighed 150 to 200 grams. They were housed in groups of 4 in cages according to the standards of the directives of the European Union. Animal handling was conducted by the animal facility of the Faculty of Medicine of Angers, approved according to French law. Tumor model Rat 9L-glioma cells (European Collection of Concealment Culture, n° 94110705, Salisbury, U.K.) were cultured in “”DMEM”" medium (“”Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium”", Biowhittaker, Verviers, Belgium) with 10% foetal calf serum (FBS, Biowhittaker) and a mixture of antibiotics: penicillin (100 UI/ml), streptomycin (0.1 mg/ml) and amphothericin B (25 μg/ml) (ABS, Sigma, Saint Quentin Fallavier, France).