Radiation induced testicular injury and its amelioration by Prunus domestica in Swiss albino mice

The increasing use of nuclear radiation for human welfare necessitates the search for new, safe, cost effective radio protectors not only for the personnel’s charged with the responsibility of working or testing with radiations in laboratories, but also for general public. With this view the present study has been undertaken to determine the deleterious effects of sub lethal gamma radiation on testes and its modulation by Prunus domestica extract (PDE). For this purpose Swiss albino mice were divided into five groups: (1) Control (2) PDE treated (400 mg kg−1 day−1 for 15 days) (3) Irradiated (5 Gy) (4) PDE + Irradiated and (5) Irradiated+PDE treated. Antioxidant and biochemical assays as well as histopathological analysis were performed to verify PDE radioprotective potential. Radiation induced histological lesions in testicular architecture were observed more severe in all experimental groups. PDE administration before irradiation significantly ameliorated radiation induced elevation in lipid peroxidation and deficit in glutathione, protein, superoxide dismutase, catalase concentration in testes. PDE was found to have strong radical scavenging activity in 2,2- diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH*) and also showed in vitro radioprotective activity. The results indicate the radioprotective potential of Prunus domestica fruit extract in testicular constituents against gamma irradiation in mice.