Increased survival after irradiation followed by regeneration of bone marrow stromal cells with a novel thiol-based radioprotector

• Published in: Croatian medical journal 2014-02, Vol.55 (1), p.45-49, Article 45
• Main Authors: Okić-Djordjević, Ivana, Trivanović, Drenka, Jovanović, Miloš, Ignjatović, Marija, Šećerov, Bojana, Mojović, Miloš, Bugarski, Diana, Bačić, Goran, Andjus, Pavle R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Bone Marrow - radiation effects; Bone regeneration; Cobalt Radioisotopes; Colony-Forming Units Assay; Irradiation; Male; Mesenchymal Stem Cells - physiology; Radiation Injuries, Experimental - etiology; Radiation Injuries, Experimental - metabolism; Radiation Injuries, Experimental - mortality; Radiation Injuries, Experimental - prevention & control; Radiation-protective agents; Radiation-Protective Agents - therapeutic use; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Regeneration - physiology; Short Commuication; Stem cells; Survival Rate; Thiols; Transplantation; Whole-Body Irradiation
• ISSN: 0353-9504; 1332-8166
• DOI: 10.3325/cmj.2014.55.45

To investigate the survival of laboratory rats after irradiation and to study the cellularity of their bone marrow and the multipotential mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) in groups treated with or without a new thiol-based radioprotector (GM2011). Animals were irradiated by a Cobalt gamma source at 6.7 Gy. Treated animals were given i.p. GM2011 30 minutes before and 3 and 7 hours after irradiation. Controls consisted of sham irradiated animals without treatment and animals treated without irradiation. After 30 days post-irradiation, animals were sacrificed and bone marrow cells were prepared from isolated femurs. A colony forming unit-fibroblast (CFU-F) assay was performed to obtain the number of BM-MSCs. In the treated group, 87% of animals survived, compared to only 30% in the non-treated irradiated group. Irradiation induced significant changes in the bone marrow of the treated rats (total bone marrow cellularity was reduced by~60%--from 63 to 28 cells × 10(6)/femur and the frequency of the CFU-F per femur by~70% - from 357 to 97), however GL2011 almost completely prevented the suppressive effect observed on day 30 post-irradiation (71 cells × 10(6)/femur and 230 CFU-F/femur). Although the irradiation dosage was relatively high, GL2011 acted as a very effective new radioprotector. The recovery of the BN-MSCs and their counts support the effectiveness of the studied radioprotector.