a Information-Based Drug Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology , Daejeon , Republic of Korea.
b Graduate School of New Drug Discovery and Development, Chungnam National University , Daejeon , Republic of Korea.
Int J Radiat Biol. 2019 Aug;95(8):1094-1102. doi: 10.1080/09553002.2019.1589021. Epub 2019 Mar 19.
The present study aimed to investigate the potential protective effects of icariin both and , an active flavonoid glucoside derived from medicinal herb , and its possible mechanisms against radiation-induced injury. Male C57BL/6 mice were exposed to lethal dose (7 Gy) or sub-lethal dose (4 Gy) of whole body radiation by X-ray at a dose rate of ∼0.55 Gy/min, and icariin was given three times at 24 h and 30 min before and 24 h after the irradiation. After irradiation, hematological, biochemical, and histological evaluations were performed. We further determined the effect of icariin on radiation-induced cytotoxicity and changes in apoptosis-related protein expression. Icariin enhanced the 30-day survival rates (20 and 40 mg/kg) in a dose-dependent manner, and protected the radiosensitive organs such as intestine and testis from the radiation damages. Moreover, hematopoietic damage by radiation was significantly decreased in icariin-treated mice as demonstrated by the increases in number of peripheral blood cells, bone marrow cells (1.7-fold), and spleen colony forming units (1.7-fold). In addition, icariin decreased the radiation-induced oxidative stress by modulating endogenous antioxidant levels. Subsequent studies showed that icariin effectively increased cell viability (1.4-fold) and suppressed the expression of apoptosis-related proteins after irradiation. These results suggest that icariin has significant protective effects against radiation-induced damages partly through its anti-oxidative and anti-apoptotic properties.
本研究旨在探讨淫羊藿苷（一种从药用植物淫羊藿中提取的活性黄酮糖苷）的潜在保护作用，及其对辐射损伤的可能机制。雄性 C57BL/6 小鼠通过 X 射线以约 0.55Gy/min 的剂量率暴露于致死剂量（7Gy）或亚致死剂量（4Gy）全身辐射下，淫羊藿苷在照射前 24 小时和 30 分钟以及照射后 24 小时给予三次。照射后进行血液学、生化和组织学评估。我们进一步确定了淫羊藿苷对辐射诱导的细胞毒性和凋亡相关蛋白表达变化的影响。淫羊藿苷以剂量依赖性方式提高 30 天存活率（20 和 40mg/kg），并保护肠道和睾丸等辐射敏感器官免受辐射损伤。此外，淫羊藿苷处理的小鼠的造血损伤通过外周血白细胞、骨髓细胞（1.7 倍）和脾集落形成单位（1.7 倍）的增加而显著降低。此外，淫羊藿苷通过调节内源性抗氧化剂水平来减轻辐射引起的氧化应激。随后的研究表明，淫羊藿苷在照射后有效提高了细胞活力（1.4 倍）并抑制了凋亡相关蛋白的表达。这些结果表明，淫羊藿苷具有显著的辐射损伤保护作用，部分是通过其抗氧化和抗凋亡特性。
