Author : Jyoti Verma and Rahul Sharma

The present study was conducted to evaluate the radio-protective effect of three phytochemicals: emodin, acemannan and naringenin on the irradiated splenocytes, bone marrow and liver cells of mouse model system. γ- Radiation induces cellular and DNA damage which was studied by micronucleus assay and karyotypic study was done by metaphase arrest of chromosomes. The radio-protective efficacy of emodin was studied by cell viability assay, comet assay and plasmid relaxation assay. Acemannan showed to possess radio-protective potential when it elevated the levels of SOD and catalase anti-oxidant enzymes in the irradiated liver cells and improved cell proliferation in the irradiated splenocytes. The radio-protective effect of naringenin on the irradiated spleen cells and bone marrow cells was also studied via MTT assay and immunocytochemistry. All three studied phytochemicals were of natural origin and showed to exhibit good radio-protective properties, thereby providing an insight for improving defense mechanism of mouse model system against radiation exposure.

Keywords: Splenocytes, bone marrow, liver cell homogenate, emodin, acemannan, naringenin