Purpose The aim of this study was to characterize changes in hippocampal inflammasomes, pyroptosis and apoptosis in juvenile rats after brain irradiation and to assess whether manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI) reflected those changes. Materials and methods Four-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats received a whole-brain radiation dose of 15 Gy or 25 Gy. Hippocampal inflammasomes and apoptosis were measured using Western blot analysis at 4 days and 8 weeks after irradiation. MEMRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) were performed at the same time points. Results Neither the 15 Gy nor 25 Gy group showed changes in the expression of inflammasome proteins absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2), gasdermin-D (GSDMD), nucleotide oligomerization domain-like receptor protein 1 (NLRP1) and NLRP3 at 4 days or 8 weeks after radiation injury (P > 0.05). Furthermore, the expression levels of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) and IL-18 were not significantly different among the groups (P > 0.05). The expression levels of cleaved caspase-1 and -3, indicators of apoptosis, were higher in the irradiation groups than in the control group at 4 days post irradiation, especially for caspase-3 (P < 0.05), but this increase was slightly attenuated at 8 weeks after radiation injury. Four days post irradiation, the MEMRI signal intensity (SI) in the irradiation groups, especially the 25 Gy group, was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). Eight weeks after radiation injury, the SI of the 15 Gy group and the 25 Gy group recovered by different degrees, but the SI of the 25 Gy group was still significantly lower than that of the control group (P < 0.05). On day 4 post irradiation, the metabolic ratio of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) to creatine (Cr) in the 15 Gy group and 25 Gy group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). The NAA/Cr ratio in the 15 Gy group recovered to control levels at 8 weeks (P > 0.05), but the NAA/Cr ratio in the 25 Gy group remained significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). Conclusion Radiation-induced brain injury is dose-dependently associated with apoptosis but not inflammasomes or pyroptosis, and the change in apoptosis can be detected by MEMRI.