effects of famotidine and vitamin c on low dose radiation-induced micronuclei in mice bone marrow cells

the radioprotective effects of vitamin c and famotidine were investigated using the micronucleus test for anticlastogenic and cell proliferation activity. various doses of vitamin c and famotidine were administered intraperitoneally 2 h before 2gy gamma irradiation to nmri adult male mice. frequency of micronuclei in 1000 pces (mnpces) were scored for each sample. cell proliferation ratio (pce/pce+nce) was also calculated. data were statistically evaluated using one-way anova and tukey’s hsd test. the results indicated that gamma irradiation alone caused a significant increase in the mnpces and reduced the cell proliferation ratio. administration of various doses of famotidine and vitamin c before gamma irradiation reduced mnpces and therefore clastogenic effects of radiation. famotidine didn’t change cell proliferation compared to the irradiation group but vitamin c significantly improved and increased cell proliferation to the control group’s level. the dose reduction factor (drf) calculated, shows a drf=2 for famotidine and a drf=1.7 for vitamin c which is indicative of a high radioprotective property of these compounds. the way in which these compounds reduced the clastogenic effects of radiation might be via antioxidant property and free radical scavenging mechanism.