Department of Anatomy, Genetics and Biomedical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Department of Zoology and Environment Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
J Radiol Prot. 2022 Feb 23;42(2). doi: 10.1088/1361-6498/ac5295.
Radioprotectors are agents that have the potential to act against radiation damage to cells. These are equally invaluable in radiation protection, both in intentional and unintentional radiation exposure. It is however, complex to use a universal radioprotector that could be beneficial in diverse contexts such as in radiotherapy, nuclear accidents, and space travel, as each of these circumstances have unique requirements. In a clinical setting such as in radiotherapy, a radioprotector is used to increase the efficacy of cancer treatment. The protective agent must act against radiation damage selectively in normal healthy cells while enhancing the radiation damage imparted on cancer cells. In the context of radiotherapy, plant-based compounds offer a more reliable solution over synthetic ones as the former are less expensive, less toxic, possess synergistic phytochemical activity, and are environmentally friendly. Phytochemicals with both radioprotective and anticancer properties may enhance the treatment efficacy by two-fold. Hence, plant based radioprotective agents offer a promising field to progress forward, and to expand the boundaries of radiation protection. This review is an account on radioprotective properties of phytochemicals and complications encountered in the development of the ideal radioprotector to be used as an adjunct in radiotherapy.
放射防护剂是一种具有对抗细胞辐射损伤作用的药物。在放射性防护中，它们同样具有不可估量的价值，无论是在有意还是无意的辐射暴露中。然而，使用一种通用的放射防护剂来应对放疗、核事故和太空旅行等不同情况下的辐射损伤是很复杂的，因为每种情况都有独特的要求。在放疗等临床环境中，放射防护剂被用于提高癌症治疗的效果。防护剂必须选择性地作用于正常健康细胞中的辐射损伤，同时增强对癌细胞的辐射损伤。在放疗的情况下，植物化合物比合成化合物提供了更可靠的解决方案，因为前者更便宜、毒性更小、具有协同的植物化学活性，并且对环境友好。同时具有放射防护和抗癌特性的植物化学物质可以将治疗效果提高一倍。因此，植物基放射防护剂为进一步发展和扩大放射防护的范围提供了一个有前途的领域。这篇综述是关于植物化学物质的放射防护特性以及在开发理想的放射防护剂作为放疗辅助剂时遇到的并发症的报道。
