Antioxidant Effect of Lycopene on Oral Mucositis in Gamma Radiation Protection in Rats (A Preliminary study)

Background and The antioxidant property of lycopene is well proven. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of lycopene on Oral Mucositis (OM) in rat induced by gamma radiation.
This experimental study was conducted in 28 male Wistar rats. They were divided into four groups (n=7 per group). 15 Gy of gamma radiation was used for 7 min and 39 sec. The rats were intraperitoneally (IP) injected within 6 days (daily) and their lips and tongues were examined to assess the incidence and severity of mucositis. Blood samples were also taken from the mice on days zero and six and the serum total antioxidant was evaluated by biochemical assays. Data analysis was done in SPSS V18. One-way ANOVA was done to analyze the datasets for mucositis and serum antioxidant capacity. Mann–Whitney test was applied for pairwise comparison of therapeutic groups in terms of the severity of mucositis.
Lycopene caused no delay in the onset of mucositis but the severity of mucositis was lower in lycopene groups compared to that in the placebo group. According to FRAP test, total antioxidant capacity changes of serum were significant between treatment groups on day six between L50 and PR, L50 and LR25, PR and LR50, and LR25 and LR50 groups.
Lycopene did not delay the onset of mucositis in treatment groups, but the severity of mucositis was lower in lycopene groups compared with that in placebo group.