Radioprotective properties of eckol against ionizing radiation in mice

Abstract

We have investigated the radioprotective efficacy of eckol, a component of brown seaweed Ecklonia cava, against the gamma ray-induced damage in vivo. Our results showed that eckol significantly decreased the mortality of lethally irradiated mice. The mechanisms of eckolÕs protection were found to include: an improvement in hematopoietic recovery, the repair of damaged DNA in immune cells and an enhancement of their proliferation, which had been severely suppressed by ionizing radiation. Thus, we propose eckol as a candidate for adjuvant therapy to alleviate radiation-induced injuries to cancer patients.

Phloroglucinol Protects Small Intestines of Mice from Ionizing Radiation by Regulating Apoptosis-Related Molecules

“…Recently, several studies have been carried out to discover radioprotective agents from natural resources such as fruit, vegetables, and medicinal plants (Park and Pezzuto 2002;Stan et al 2008), because of the toxic side effects of many synthetic compounds on human health. In particular, the Ecklonia species have been reported to exhibit radical scavenging activity (Kang HS et al 2004), anticancer activity (Thomas and Kim 2011), and hematopoietic recovery activity (Park, Ahn, et al 2008), and phlorotannin components were identified to be responsible for the biological activity. Phloroglucinol (1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene; PG), a monomeric building block of phlorotannin and a phenolic compound known to derive only from brown algae, has cytoprotective effects on oxidative stress-induced cell damage through catalase activation (Kang KA et al 2010) and radioprotective effects on intestinal crypt cells after whole-body gamma-irradiation (Moon et al 2008).…”

Effect of Ecklonia Cava Polyphenol Extract in House Ear Institute-Organ of Corti 1 Cells Against Cisplatin Ototoxicity: A Preliminary Study

“…Many of the studies that demonstrate the antioxidant effect of ECP extract compounds have been carried out in order to present their protective effect against radioactivity (25)(26)(27)(28)(29). In the prevention of cell damage caused by radiotherapy-induced oxidative stress, polyphenol compounds have been shown to exert antioxidant effects directly by reacting with oxygen radicals or indirectly by activating enzyme systems such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, and myeloperoxidase (15,(28)(29)(30).…”

“…In the prevention of cell damage caused by radiotherapy-induced oxidative stress, polyphenol compounds have been shown to exert antioxidant effects directly by reacting with oxygen radicals or indirectly by activating enzyme systems such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, and myeloperoxidase (15,(28)(29)(30). It has been suggested that eckol, an ECP component, inhibits apoptosis in the cells against radiation damage by suppressing the proapoptotic p53 and Bax genes and by inducing the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 gene (30).…”

Hematological Indices for Mice Bearing Ehrlich Tumor When Treated by Liposomes Encapsulated Hemoglobin and Irradiation

“…Hematopoietic stem cells are highly sensitive to ionizing radiation (41) . Hematopoietic recovery depends on the percentage of residual hematopoietic stem cells.…”