Cystone, an ayurvedic herbal drug imparts protection to the mice against the lethal effects of gamma-radiation: a preliminary study.

The effect of 5, 10, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120, and 160 mg/kg body weight (b.wt.) of aqueous extract of cystone (an ayurvedic herbal medicine) administered intraperitoneally was studied on the radiation-induced mortality in mice exposed to 10 Gy of gamma-radiation. Treatment of mice with different doses of cystone, consecutively for five days before irradiation, delayed the onset of mortality and reduced the symptoms of radiation sickness when compared with the non-drug treated irradiated controls. The pretreatment of mice with different doses of cystone before exposure to 10 Gy of gamma-radiation resulted in a dose-dependent elevation in the survival up to 40 mg/kg b.wt., where the highest number of survival (55.55%) was observed by 30 days post irradiation, when compared with the 10 Gy irradiated control (6.66%). Thereafter, the number of survivors declined and reached a nadir at 160 mg/kg, where no survivors could be observed. The optimum protection against irradiation was observed for 40 mg/kg cystone, where the highest number of survivors were reported by 30 days post irradiation and it was 8.34-fold greater than that of the irradiated control group.