Radioprotective activities of beer administration for radiation-induced acute toxicity in mice.

Abstract

We previously found that drinking beer reduces chromosome aberrations in blood lymphocytes that were collected and irradiated in vitro. In this study, we investigated the radioprotective activities of beer-administration for bone marrow and intestine in mice. C3H/He female mice received an oral administration of beer, ethanol or saline at a dose of 1 ml/mouse 30 min before whole body irradiation with 137Cs gamma rays or LET 50 keV/microm carbon ions. Radioprotective activities were estimated using a LD(50/30) (The dose required to kill 50% of the mice within 30 days) and a microcolony technique for intestine. The LD(50/30) for the beer-administered mice was significantly increased in comparison with saline administered mice. The LD(50/30) of gamma-ray was 7.8 Gy (p < 0.05), 7.6 Gy and 7.3 Gy for beer-, ethanol- and saline-administered group, respectively. The LD(50/30) of carbon ions was 6.6 Gy (p < 0.05), 6.2 Gy and 5.9 Gy for the beer-, ethanol- and saline-administered groups, respectively. The crypt survivals that were semi-logarithmically plotted against dose were well fitted to a linear regression line. The dose reduction factor (DRF) (D10) of beer- and ethanol-administered mice for gamma rays was 1.09 and 1.08, respectively. The DRF (D10) of beer- and ethanol-administered mice for carbon ions was 1.08 and 1.07, respectively. The radioprotection by beer-administration is due to not only OH radical-scavenge action by the ethanol contained in beer.