title: Herbal remedies for combating irradiation: a green anti-irradiation approach.
abstract: Plants play important roles in human life not only as suppliers of oxygen but also as a fundamental resource to sustain the human race on this earthly plane. Plants also play a major role in our nutrition by converting energy from the sun during photosynthesis. In addition, plants have been used extensively in traditional medicine since time immemorial. Information in the biomedical literature has indicated that many natural herbs have been investigated for their efficacy against lethal irradiation. Pharmacological studies by various groups of investigators have shown that natural herbs possess significant radioprotective activity. In view of the immense medicinal importance of natural product based radioprotective agents, this review aims at compiling all currently available information on radioprotective agents from medicinal plants and herbs, especially the evaluation methods and mechanisms of action. In this review we particularly emphasize on ethnomedicinal uses, botany, phytochemistry, mechanisms of action and toxicology. We also describe modern techniques for evaluating herbal samples as radioprotective agents. The usage of herbal remedies for combating lethal irradiation is a green anti- irradiation approach for the betterment of human beings without high cost, side effects and toxicity.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Research in Molecular Medicine (INFORMM), University Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia E-mail : srisasidharan@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Subramanion Jothy
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Lachumy
authors.forename: Chern Ein
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Oon
authors.forename: Subramanian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Deivanai
authors.forename: Dharmaraj
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Saravanan
authors.forename: Soundararajan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vijayarathna
authors.forename: Yee Siew
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Choong
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yeng
authors.forename: Lachimanan Yoga
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Latha
authors.forename: Sreenivasan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sasidharan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D029001:Herbal Medicine; D006801:Humans; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000379:methods; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D011837:Radiation-Protective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D011837:Radiation-Protective Agents