A wide range of primary pharmacological actions of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) has been documented in laboratory studies: membrane penetration, membrane transport, effects on connective tissue, anti-inflammation, nerve blockade (analgesia), bacteriostasis, diuresis, enhancement or reduction of the effectiveness of other drugs, cholinesterase inhibition, nonspecific enhancement of resistance to in...

Despite the potential devastating health consequences of intense total-body irradiation, and the decades of research, there still remains a dearth of safe and effective radiation countermeasures for emergency, radiological/nuclear contingencies that have been fully approved and sanctioned for use by the US FDA. Vitamin E is a well-known antioxidant, effective in scavenging free radicals generat...

BACKGROUND The increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables has contributed to the improvement of populational health, due in part, to the abundance of antioxidants in these foods. Antioxidants reduce the level of oxidative damage to DNA caused by free radicals and ionizing radiation, including the radioisotope iodine-131 (131I). This isotope is used for the diagnosis and treatment of thyroi...

BACKGROUND Previously we verified the radioprotective effect of lidocaine on the function and ultrastructure of salivary glands in rabbits. However, the underlying mechanism of lidocaine's radioprotective effect is unknown. We hypothesized that lidocaine, as a membrane stabilization agent, has a protective effect on intracellular neuroreceptor-mediated signaling and hence can help preserve the ...

PURPOSE We have previously shown that zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos can be used as an in vivo model to validate modifiers of the radiation response. Here, we evaluated the radioprotective effect of the nanoparticle DF-1, a fullerene with antioxidant properties, in zebrafish embryos. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Zebrafish embryos were exposed to different doses of ionizing radiation ranging from 20 t...

Rosmarinic acid (RA) is an ester of caffeic acid and 3, 4-dihydroxyphenyl lactic acid. It is a potent antioxidant that functions by scavenging free radicals. Here, we used a 30-day survival assay to investigate the radioprotective effects of RA. Mice were treated with RA once per day for 10 consecutive days starting at 3 days before gamma irradiation at 7.5 Gy until 7 days post irradiation. Mic...

Radiation therapy for the treatment of thoracic malignancies has improved significantly by directing of the proton beam in higher doses on the targeted tumor while normal tissues around the tumor receive much lower doses. Nevertheless, exposure of normal tissues to protons is known to pose a substantial risk in long-term survivors, as confirmed by our work in space-relevant exposures of murine ...

The dose limiting toxicities of Ionizing Radiation (IR) in radiosensitive normal tissues, such as bone marrow, intestine, and skin, precludes the delivery of curative or effective palliative doses of radiation in many cases. Despite of the intense research effort in the past to find new effective and well-tolerated radioprotectors, only one drug has been approved by FDA for this indication. One...