Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2006; 11: 23
The aim of this study was to investigate the radioprotective effect of Saengmaek-san (SMS), a herbal formula, on mice jejunal crypt cell survival and apoptosis.
Sixty-four mice were divided into four groups (normal group, control group and two sample groups). The normal group included mice without irradiation, the control group included mice treated with distilled water before 10 Gy irradiation and the sample group was divided into two subgroups. The first sample group (SMS2.9) was treated with 2.9 mg/10 g of SMS extract before 10 Gy irradiation and the second sample group (SMS29) was treated with 29 mg/10 g of SMS extract before 10 Gy irradiation. After irradiation, each group was divided two groups and sacrificed at 24 and 72 h. Hematoxylin-eosin staining was used to analyse the crypt survival and the TUNEL assay was done to analyse the apoptosis.
From the microcolony survival assay, the SMS2.9 and SMS29 groups showed a statistically significant radio-protective effect when compared with the control group at 24 h (P < 0.01) and 72 h (P < 0.001) after 10 Gy irradiation. The radioprotective effects of SMS2.9 and SMS29 were not significantly different. The results of the TUNEL assay showed that the apoptotic indexes in SMS2.9 and SMS29 were significantly decreased when compared with the control group at both 24 h (P < 0.01) and 72 h (SMS2.9: P < 0.001, SMS29: P < 0.01) after 10 Gy irradiation. The differences between SMS2.9 and SMS29 were not significant.
It could be suggested that SMS has a prominent protective effect on mice intestines against radiation damage. The radioprotective effect of SMS seems to be related to inhibition of the apoptosis.
