title: Radioprotective Effect of Achillea millefolium L Against Genotoxicity Induced by Ionizing Radiation in Human Normal Lymphocytes.
abstract: The radioprotective effect of Achillea millefolium L (ACM) extract was investigated against genotoxicity induced by ionizing radiation (IR) in human lymphocytes. Peripheral blood samples were collected from human volunteers and incubated with the methanolic extract of ACM at different concentrations (10, 50, 100, and 200 μg/mL) for 2 hours. At each dose point, the whole blood was exposed in vitro to 2.5 Gy of X-ray and then the lymphocytes were cultured with mitogenic stimulation to determine the micronuclei in cytokinesis-blocked binucleated cell. Antioxidant capacity of the extract was determined using free radical-scavenging method. The treatment of lymphocytes with the extract showed a significant decrease in the incidence of micronuclei binucleated cells, as compared with similarly irradiated lymphocytes without any extract treatment. The maximum protection and decrease in frequency of micronuclei were observed at 200 μg/mL of ACM extract which completely protected genotoxicity induced by IR in human lymphocytes. Achillea millefolium extract exhibited concentration-dependent radical-scavenging activity on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl free radicals. These data suggest that the methanolic extract of ACM may play an important role in the protection of normal tissues against genetic damage induced by IR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy and Biotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Somayeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shahani
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiopharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran ; Student Research Committee, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Mostafa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rostamnezhad
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiopharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran ; Student Research Committee, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Vahid
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ghaffari-Rad
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Arash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghasemi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Tayyeb
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Allahverdi Pourfallah
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiopharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Jalal
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hosseinimehr
keywords: Achillea millefolium; antioxidant; genotoxicity; micronuclei; radioprotective