Phytother Res. 2003 Mar; 17(3): 222-6.

Protection of jejunal crypts by RH-3 (a preparation of Hippophae rhamnoides) against lethal whole body gamma irradiation.

Goel HC, Salin CA, Prakash H.

Radiation Biology Laboratory, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Science, Lucknow Marg, Delhi, India. radbiol@nda.vsnl.net.in

RH-3, an alcoholic extract of whole berries of Hippopheae rhamnoides, has been demonstrated to provide radioprotective activity in terms of survival of mice against whole body lethal irradiation (10 Gy). It was, therefore, investigated for its mode of action by monitoring crypt survival, cellularity of crypts and villi and the magnitude of apoptosis in the GI tract.Administration of RH-3 before irradiation (-30 min) increased the number of surviving crypts in the jejunum by a factor of 2.02 (p < 0.05) and villi cellularity by 2.5 fold (p < 0.05) in comparison to the irradiated control. RH-3 administration before irradiation also reduced the incidence of apoptotic bodies in the crypts (p < 0.05) in a time dependent manner and increased cellularity in the crypts and villi (84 h post irradiation) as compared to control. Caspase-3 activity was also significantly lower in the mice administered RH-3 before irradiation as compared to irradiated control.This study indicates that reduction in the radiation induced loss of cellularity of crypts and villi and also decrease in frequency of apoptosis could have contributed towards protection of mice treated with RH-3 before irradiation. The cellular and molecular mechanisms of radioprotection by Rh-3 need to be investigated further in detail.Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.