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.

Modulation of Radiation-Induced Alterations in Oxidative Stress and Cytokine Expression in Lung Tissue byPanax GinsengExtract

“…The lung tissue levels of GSH, a free radical scavenger and cosubstrate for GPx, were lower at 10 days after irradiation, which may have been caused by the increased consumption of this compound to combat the elevated oxidative stress at the time. The reduction in oxidative stress by the PGE pretreatments prevented this decrease in GSH level, which was similar to the results reported by previous studies (Verma et al ., ; Ramesh et al ., ). At 2 and 10 days after irradiation, the results for the GSH contents in the PGE pretreatment groups were related to those for the MDA levels in these groups.…”

“…The oxidative damage induced by ·OH can be efficiently reduced by the direct scavenging of ·OH produced by the radiolysis of water and by preventing the formation of ·OH via the Fenton reaction. In addition to the effective ·OH scavenging and ferrous metal‐ion‐chelating activities of whole ginseng extract or isolated ginsenosides, which were previously verified through in vitro experiments, several authors have reported that ginseng increases the activity of endogenous antioxidant enzymes, such as SOD, catalase, and GSH peroxidase (GPx), under basal oxidative stress conditions, and it prevents the reduction in their activity caused by elevated oxidative stress (Chang et al ., ; Verma et al ., ; Ramesh et al ., ). At the early stage of RILI, the influx of inflammatory cells such as macrophages to an injury site is induced by the altered expression of proinflammatory cytokines, and the influx may induce additional ROS production by these cells and chronic oxidative stress (Sisto et al ., ; Fleckenstein et al ., ).…”

Effects of traditional oriental medicines as anti-cytotoxic agents in radiotherapy

“…These cytokines may be necessary for recovery of the hematopoietic system and induction of the immune system to protect against radiation exposure. Furthermore, oral administration of ginseng root extracts to albino mice prior to whole-body exposure to γ-radiation increased survival rates and life expectancy, restored the levels of a number of endogenous antioxidants, including GST, CAT and SOD-1, and inhibited radiation-induced sickness and weight loss (92). These extracts also significantly decreased the increased level of radiation-mediated lipid peroxidation (92,96).…”

“…Ginseng contains various types of ginsenosides (major active components), kaempferol, caffeic acids, acidic polysaccharides and palmitic acids in its stem, leaves and roots. The majority of the evidence for the radioprotective properties of ginseng has been accumulated over the last several decades (90)(91)(92)(93). For example, the administration of ginseng extracts resulted in suppression of radiation-induced inflammatory response through inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 overexpression, as well as recovery of spleen and thymus damage induced by radiation exposure in mouse models (94).…”

Panax ginseng Meyer prevents radiation-induced liver injury via modulation of oxidative stress and apoptosis

“…P. ginseng has been commonly used to treat a wide variety of diseases [43]. Previous studies reported that P. ginseng beneficially affected side effects or adverse effects during the IRs [44], [45]; however, no study has been conducted regarding RILI.…”