The Therapeutic Effects Of Gingerol On Mice Irradiated By Different Doses Of ⁶⁰Co-γ-ray

Radiation has been one heavy contamination around our everyday life. It can hurt cells, tissues and organs, even the whole body's function and metabolism through physical, chemical and biological mechanisms, which can bring acute and chronic radiation sickness. The hematopoietic system is the most sensitive to radiation. As one important Chinese medicine and flavoring, Ginger rhizome (ZOE) has been reported for its diminishing inflammation, treating vomit, antioxidation, antitumor, improving immunity and radical scavenging abilities. The therapetic effect of gingerol on radiated mice is further studied in this research.6 to 8 weeks old Kunming mice weighing 25～30 g were selected from an inbred colony maintained under controlled conditions of temperature (23±2℃), humidity (50±5%) and light (14 and 10 hours of light and dark) respectively.60 healthy female mice were randomly divided into 10 groups with 6 mice per group. GroupⅠwas given distilled water intragastrically (i.g.) once daily for five days, served as control group. GroupⅡwas given gingerol i.g., served as gingerol group. GroupⅢ～Ⅰwere irradiated with 1,3,5,7 Gy of 60Co-γ-ray at the rate of 1.2 Gy/min respectively and given distilled water i.g. within 30 min after irradiation, served as radiation groups. GroupⅦ～Ⅹwere irradiated with 1,3,5,7 Gy of 60Co-y-ray respectively and given gingerol i.g. within 30 min after irradiation, served as radiation+gingerol groups. Gingerol was given at the dose of 800mg/kg B.W. once daily for 5 consecutive days. The animals were sacrificed for blood, liver, spleen and thighbone at 6th day post-irradiation.Radiation could significantly reduce the relative spleen weight. Post-treatment of mice exposure to 3,5 Gy of radiation with gingerol significantly increased the spleen index compared to the 3,5 Gy radiation group, respectively. WBC in mice irradiated by 1 Gy ofγ-ray was lower than those with gingerol. Mice irradiated by 7 Gy ofγ-ray with gingerol showed higher RBC, HGB and HCT. Mice in radiation groups showed a dose-dependent depletion in the SOD activities and T-AOC, while elevation in the MDA contents. Treatment of mice with gingerol after 3 Gy of irradiation caused a significant elevation in the activities of SOD and total antioxidative capacity and depletion in the MDA levels in liver. The gingerol also showed a good therapeutic effect for 5 Gy irradiated mice. The numbers of micronuclei (MN) in the bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes (PCEs) were significantly higher than control group and the gingerol can reduce the MN numbers in mice irradiated by 1,3,5 Gy ofγ-ray. These findings indicated that gingerol has the therapeutic effects against hematopoietic suppression and antioxidative function damage suffered from different doses of irradiation.