U. Mutlu-turkoglu et al., The effect of selenium and/or vitamin E treatments on radiation-induced intestinal injury in rats, LIFE SCI, 66(20), 2000, pp. 1905-1913
Cytotoxic effects of ionizing radiation on gastrointestinal epithelium may
be related to oxidative stress. In this study, we wanted to investigate the
effects of selenium, vitamin E and selenium plus vitamin E pretreatments p
rior to whole abdominal irradiation on intestinal injury. Irradiation cause
d increased lipid peroxide and decreased GSH levels in the intestine. Intes
tinal superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities were incre
ased, but glutathione transferase activity decreased following irradiation.
Selenium and/or vitamin E pretreatments ameliorated these disturbances in
prooxidant-antioxidant balance. This amelioriation has been verified with h
istopathological findings. These results indicate that antioxidant pretreat
ments prior to irradiation may have some beneficial effects against irradia
tion-induced intestinal injury.