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World J Gastroenterol. Jul 14, 2026; 32(26): 118923
Published online Jul 14, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i26.118923
Published online Jul 14, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v32.i26.118923
Establishment of a standardized rat model of chronic radiation proctitis and preliminary evaluation of its association with tubulin
Yu Chang, Ji Xuan, Department of Gastroenterology, Jinling Clinical Medical College, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 21002, Jiangsu Province, China
Rong Sun, Department of Radiation Oncology, Jinling Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing 21000, Jiangsu Province, China
Wei Juan, Hao-Yu Xu, Ji Xuan, Department of Gastroenterology, Jinling Hospital, The Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing 21000, Jiangsu Province, China
Zheng Xu, State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Department of Gastro
Ke Zen, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China
Co-first authors: Yu Chang and Rong Sun.
Co-corresponding authors: Ke Zen and Ji Xuan.
Author contributions: Chang Y and Sun R contribute equally to this study as co-first authors; Zen K and Xuan J contribute equally to this study as co-corresponding authors; Chang Y and Xuan J designed the research study; Chang Y and Xu HY performed the research; Xu Z contributed new reagents and analytic tools; Chang Y analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Eastern Theater Command General Hospital (Approval No. DZ24WYXKT 001).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that none of them have any conflicts of interest in relation to the present publication.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at xuanji@nju.edu.cn.
Corresponding author: Ji Xuan, Department of Gastroenterology, Jinling Clinical Medical College, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, No. 305 Zhongshan East Road, Nanjing 210002, Jiangsu Province, China. xuanji@nju.edu.cn
Received: January 22, 2026
Revised: February 26, 2026
Accepted: March 17, 2026
Published online: July 14, 2026
Processing time: 162 Days and 15.7 Hours
Revised: February 26, 2026
Accepted: March 17, 2026
Published online: July 14, 2026
Processing time: 162 Days and 15.7 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Chronic radiation proctitis can be induced by a single dose of 20-35 Gy irradiation, which simplifies the modeling procedure while recapitulating two major human pathological features: Telangiectasia and progressive fibrosis. The formation of chronic injury is associated with the destruction of microtubule protein, the low expression of tubulin at 2 weeks after irradiation can serve as an early indicator for the transition of rectal toward chronic radiation injury. After radiation without intervention, around the eighth week, chronic manifestations such as capillary dilation would appear. The observation period for the therapeutic effect should be extended to at least 8 weeks.