RADIOPROTECTIVE EFFECT OF STOBADINE IN THE MOUSE MICRONUCLEUS TEST

Induction of micronuclei was studied 40 h post irradiation in peripher al blood reticulocytes of male mice treated or not with stobadine dipa lmitate (70.07 mg/kg body weight) at two time intervals (2 h or 1 h) p rior to and immediately after 6.5 Gy Co-60 exposure. A significant dec rease of micronucleated reticulocytes was observed in the group of mic e pretreated 2 h (P < 0.05) or 1 h (P < 0.01) before irradiation. Co-6 0 irradiation followed by treatment with stobadine did not lead to the same protective effect in the micronucleus assay. It is therefore ass umed that a radical-scavenging mechanism must be involved in radioprot ection by stobadine.