444 I. SINGH ET AL.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Phytother. Res. 19, 444–446 (2005)

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

PHYTOTHERAPY RESEARCHPhytother. Res. 19, 444–446 (2005)Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/ptr.1600

SHORT COMMUNICATIONRadioprotection of Swiss Albino Mice byEmblica officinalis

Inder Singh, Abhilasha Sharma, Vandana Nunia and P. K. Goyal*Radiation and Cancer Biology Laboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur 302 004, India

The fruit pulp of Emblica officinalis (EO) is an important drug used in Indian systems of medicine for severaldiseases and as a tonic. In view of its multifarious uses, the plant extract (aqueous) was tested for itsradioprotective properties against sublethal gamma radiation (9 Gy) in Swiss albino mice. Animals weredivided into two groups and irradiated with gamma radiation externally, with or without EO extract, whichwas given orally at different doses before irradiation. The dose of fruit pulp extract found to be most effectiveagainst radiation was 100 mg/kg b.wt. This dose increased the survival time and reduced the mortality rate ofmice significantly. Furthermore, body weight loss in EO administered irradiated animals was significantly lessin comparison with animals who were given radiation only. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Keywords: radiation; Emblica officinalis; Swiss albino mice; body weight; survivality.

Received 16 September 2003Accepted 28 October 2003

* Correspondence to: Dr P. K. Goyal, Radiation and Cancer BiologyLaboratory, Department of Zoology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur302 004, India.E-mail: Pkgoyal2002@rediffmail.com

INTRODUCTION

Emblica officinalis (family: Euphorbiaceae) known as‘amla’ or ‘Indian gooseberry’ is widely distributedin India and neighbouring countries. This famousAyurvedic herb is considered to be one of thestrongest rejuvatives (rasayana), particularly for theblood, liver and heart. According to Ayurveda, it is afrontline antiinflammatory herb, and is used for a widevariety of inflammatory conditions, including haemor-rhoids, gastritis and colitis. Emblica officinalis is reportedto possess antiulcer (Pakrashi et al., 2003), hepatopro-tective (Gulati et al., 1995), antioxidant (Bhattacharyaet al., 1999), antitumour (Khan et al., 2002), andanticancer (Menon et al., 1997; Jeena et al., 1999) prop-erties. The present investigation is an attempt to studythe radioprotective property of Emblica officinalis inan in vivo system.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Fresh fruits of EO were washed, air dried, powderedand extracted with double distilled water (DDW) byrefluxing for 36 h (3 × 12) at 80 °C. The extract thusobtained was vacuum evaporated to produce a powder.The extract was redissolved in DDW just prior to theoral administration. Male Swiss albino mice, 6–8 weeksold, weighing 25 ± 2 g, were selected from an inbredcolony, maintained in the laboratory on standard micefeed and water ad libitum. These mice were dividedinto two groups. Group I, was irradiated with 9 Gy ofgamma radiation (control), while group II was furtherdivided into five small subgroups of six animals each.These groups were fed with plant extract for 7 consecu-

tive days before irradiation at dose rates of 50, 100,200, 400 and 800 mg/kg b.wt/day). On day 7 theseanimals received plant extract 30 min prior to gammairradiation. The survival time and body weight of allthe groups were noted up to 30 days.

RESULTS

No toxic effects were observed in terms of sickness,body weight, urination or defaecation pattern andmortality in animals treated with EO extract alone. Inthe control group (irradiation only) radiation sicknessin the form of diarrhoea, ruffled fur, skin lesions, slowgait, oedema and reduced water or food intake wereobserved. The animals treated with 50, 100, 200, 400and 800 mg EO showed 25%, 87.5%, 60%, 40% and40% survival, respectively (Fig. 1). The optimum dosewas calculated as 100 mg/kg b.wt. and the same wasused further for detailed investigation. Animals irradi-ated (control) in the absence of EO (group I) starteddying after day 5 of irradiation and 50% of them diedwithin 7 days post-irradiation and 100% within 10 daysof irradiation. In group II (100 mg/kg b.wt.) 87.5%survival was recorded up to 30 days. A significantincrease in the body weight was observed in the EOpretreated irradiated animals (group II) in comparisonwith the control (group I) throughout the period ofstudy (Table 1).

DISCUSSION

The results from the present study indicate that pretreat-ment of Emblica officinalis extract (EO) protectedthe mice from the lethal effect of ionizing radiation.The radioprotective effect of EO was demonstrated byincreased body weight and survival rate. A significantradioprotection was achieved when EO was given

RADIOPROTECTION BY EMBLICA OFFICINALIS 445

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Phytother. Res. 19, 444–446 (2005)

Table 1. Variation in body weight (g) of Swiss albino mice following 9 Gy gamma irradiation with or without oral administration ofEmblica officinalis (EO) fruit extract

Post treatment interval (days)

Group 0 1 3 5 10 20 30

Normal 26.00 ± 0.76 26.68 ± 0.42 27.24 ± 0.48 28.36 ± 0.56 29.28 ± 0.32 32.16 ± 0.56 33.60 ± 0.40Control 27.78 ± 0.30 24.32 ± 0.34b 21.78 ± 0.42c 17.66 ± 0.39c 16.72 ± 0.30c NS NSExperimental 26.18 ± 0.00 25.12 ± 0.45a 22.63 ± 0.56a 23.42 ± 0.46c 24.00 ± 0.33c 26.40 ± 0.57 28.30 ± 0.46

Each value represents mean ± SEM.Normal, no treatment;Control, untreated irradiated;Experimental, EO pretreated irradiated;NS, no survival.p value:Normal v/s ControlControl v/s Experimentala p < 0.50; b p < 0.05; c p < 0.001.

antistress activity, might have protected the animalsagainst the deleterious effects of irradiation.

Free radicals generated during radiolysis of water playa highly significant role in indirect biological damageinduced by ionizing radiation. The basic effect oncellular membranes is believed to be the peroxida-tion of membrane lipids. The antioxidant property ofEmblica officinalis has recently been attributed to thetannoid complexes as emblicanin-A (37%), emblicanin-B (33%), punigluconin (12%) and pedunculagin (14%);these components significantly increase the concen-tration of the antioxidant enzymes and reduce lipidperoxidation. Furthermore, the fruit of this plant haslong been postulated to be a rich source of vitamin C,which is regarded as a natural antioxidant defence.It also regenerates the major antioxidant tocopherol(vitamin E) in lipoproteins and cell membranes (Katiyar,1997; Bhattacharya et al., 1999). Further investigations,on the various histological and biochemical parametersand mechanism of protection offered by this plantextract are in progress.

orally 100 mg/kg b.wt. for 7 consecutive days prior toirradiation. In the present study, a significant loss inbody weight was evident in the control animals (irra-diation alone). The EO pretreated irradiated animals(100 mg/kg b. wt.) showed recovery in body weight fromday 1 onwards and reached normal by day 30 post-irradiation. Only 12.5% mortality was observed in thisgroup, whereas 100% mortality was evident in animalsirradiated without EO (group I). This was due to dam-age to the gastrointestinal tract, and protection of theintestinal mucosa against radiation damage might beone of the reasons for the greater survival time in EOpretreated animals because it may facilitate digestionand absorption in the post-irradiation period.

Emblica officinalis displays pronounced adaptogenicproperties, protecting against free radical damageinduced during stress (Rege et al., 1999), and alsoenhances natural killer cell activity and antibodydependent cytotoxicity in tumour bearing mice, byincreasing the life-span 35% beyond that of the controlanimals (Suresh and Vasudeven, 1994). These, and its

Figure 1. Survival of Swiss albino mice after 9 Gy gamma irradiation with (experimental) or without (control) Emblica officinalis (EO)fruit extract (mg/kg b.wt).

446 I. SINGH ET AL.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Phytother. Res. 19, 444–446 (2005)

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