title: Management of Radiation Injuries by Panax ginseng Extract.
abstract: Chemical radiation protection is an important strategy to protect living beings against the deleterious effects of radiation. In the present study, the radioprotective effect of hydro-alcoholic extract of Panax ginseng extract (PGR-HAE) was studied on radiation-induced deleterious alterations in Swiss albino mice. Oral administration of such extract (25 mg/kg b wt/day/animal) for 5 consecutive days, half an h. before whole-body exposure to 6 Gy gamma radiation, enhanced the 30 days survival and also inhibited the radiogenic sickness, weight loss and life shortening. PGR-HAE ameliorated radiation induced depletion in blood constituents at different necropsy intervals between 12 h to 30 d, and significantly increased the number of femoral spleen colony forming units that survived after irradiation. Furthermore, it checked depletion of glutathione and antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione S-transferase) as well as elevation of lipid peroxidation (LPO) level in blood and liver. The significant reduction in the yield of LPO demonstrates that PGR-HAE protects the membranes against radiation-induced oxidative damage. These findings conclude that such plant extract provides significant radioprotection, and it may be potentially valuable in the prevention of injuries caused during planned and unplanned radiation exposure.
authors.affiliation: Radiation & Cancer Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur 302004, India.
authors.forename: Preeti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.forename: Swafiya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jahan
authors.forename: Tae Hawn
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Pradeep Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Goyal
keywords: Antioxidants; Hematological constituents; Panax ginseng; Radiation protection; Swiss albino mice