A study of the influence of a novel drug Ukrain on in vivo effects of low-dose ionizing radiation.

The extrapolation of data obtained with lethal doses of radiation to evaluating low doses, i.e., those not causing immediate death, seems to be unjustified. Thus, models have to be developed that are based on integral parameters (such as the survival of experimental animals), easy to perform, and permit screening procedures to be carried out within 30 days in order to make screening efficient. Two hundred and sixty outbred male white mice were irradiated with a 1 Gy dose at a 0.75 Gy/min. To produce a model of acute infection, the animals were infected by tularemia (2 x LD50) using Gaiskiy-15 strain of the infectious agent. A viral disease was produced by infecting mice by the equine encephalomyelitis (EEM) virus. The animals were infected 24 h after irradiation. The survival of animals was used as an end point. Such conditions are most prevalent in areas contaminated by radioactivity. Irradiation prior to infection was found to decrease the survival rate of experimental animals. Preventive administration of Ukrain increased the survival rate of experimental animals. On the whole, the results suggest that Ukrain deserves the attention of experts in radioprotection.