title: Radioprotective effect of leaf extract of Indian medicinal plant Ocimum sanctum.
abstract: Water or aqueous ethanol extract of O. sanctum was given ip, either as a single dose or multiple doses, before a whole-body exposure to 11 Gy(LD100/30) of 60Co gamma radiation in albino mice. The water extract was more effective and less toxic than the aqueous ethanol extract. An optimum ip dose of 50 mg/kg (< 1/100 LD50) of the water extract, at 10 mg/kg/day for 5 consecutive days, gave the maximum survival. Increasing the dose per treatment or the number of treatments did not increase protection. Intraperitoneal administration gave the best protection (70% survival). Other routes (im, iv and po) were less effective and produced 37-47% survival. The optimum dose (ip) gave a dose modifying factor of 1.28. Since the extract may contain a number of chemical compounds, it is not possible to attribute the observed protection to any particular compound at present.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiobiology, Dr. T.M.A. Pai Research Centre, Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, India.
authors.forename: P U
authors.initials: PU
authors.lastname: Devi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ganasoundari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004333:Drug Administration Routes; D051379:Mice; D018649:Ocimum basilicum / Q000737:chemistry*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*; D011837:Radiation-Protective Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts; D011837:Radiation-Protective Agents