title: Radioprotective effects of Hawthorn against genotoxicity induced by gamma irradiation in human blood lymphocytes.
abstract: The radioprotective effect of hawthorn (Crataegus microphylla) fruit extract was investigated in cultured blood lymphocytes from human volunteers. Peripheral blood samples were collected from five human volunteers 10 min before and 1, 2 and 3 h after a single oral ingestion of 500 mg hawthorn powder extract. At each time point, the whole blood was exposed in vitro to 150 cGy of cobalt-60 gamma irradiation, and then the lymphocytes were cultured with mitogenic stimulation to determine the micronuclei in cytokinesis-blocked binucleated cell. The lymphocytes in the blood samples collected after extract ingestion exhibited a significant decrease in the incidence of binucleated cells containing micronuclei as compared to similarly irradiated lymphocytes collected prior to extract ingestion. The maximum decrease in the frequency of micronuclei-containing cells was observed at 1 h after ingestion of Hawthorn extract (on average a 44% decrease). These data suggest that it may be possible to use Hawthorn extracts in personnel exposed to radiation in order to protect lymphocytes from radiation effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. sjhosseinim@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Seyed Jalal
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hosseinimehr
authors.forename: Aziz
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mahmoudzadeh
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Azadbakht
authors.forename: Shahram
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akhlaghpoor