Effect of abana (a herbal preparation) on the radiation-induced mortality in mice

The effect of various doses (0, 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg body weight) of 50% ethanolic extract of abana, a traditional herbal preparation, widely used in India for the treatment of heart ailments, was studied on the radiation-induced mortality in mice exposed to 10 Gy of gamma-radiation. Treatment of mice with different doses of abana delayed the onset of mortality and reduced the symptoms of radiation sickness as compared to the irradiated controls. All doses of abana provided protection against the gastrointestinal (GI) death, however, the highest protection against GI death was observed for 20 mg/kg abana. Pretreatment of mice with 20 mg/kg abana provided the best protection as evidenced by the highest number of survivors after 30 days post-irradiation in this group when compared to the other doses of abana. Acute toxic studies revealed that the abana was non-toxic up to a dose of 1.6g/kg, where no drug-induced mortality was observed. The LD50 dose of abana was found to be 1.8 g/kg body weight. Our study demonstrates the ability of abana as a good radioprotective agent and the optimum protective dose of abana was 1/90 of its LD50 dose. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.