Radiation induced DNA damage and its protection by a gadolinium(III) complex: Spectroscopic, molecular docking and gel electrophoretic studies.

The current work describes the efficacy of an artificially synthesized Gd(III) complex as a potential radioprotecting molecule. The work involves utilization of spectroscopic and electrophoretic techniques to investigate the radioprotecting behavior of the Gd(III) complex. Spectroscopic studies revealed that the complex interacted strongly with DNA while molecular docking studies suggested groove binding through H-bond formation and other non-covalent interactions. The Gd(III) complex was found to impart 94% and 91% protection to irradiatively damaged DNA at radiation doses of 20 and 25 Gy respectively. The protection is believed to occur via radical scavenging mechanism and the antioxidant behavior of the complex suggested a strong radical scavenging property.