Radioprotection of Lactoferrin in Sub-Lethally X-ray irradiated mice

Abstract

Lactoferrin is an iron-binding glycoprotein with a molecular weight of about 80,000. It The radioprotective effect of lactoferrin was studied in mice following whole-body X-ray irradiation. C3H/He mice were used in this experiment. The mice were separated tow groups One group(50 mice) were fed an AIN-93 diet, which contained 0.0007 % w/w lactoferrin. The other group (50 mice) was fed an AIN-93 diet and water ad libitum. He mice were kept for 30 days on each diet, and were then exposed 6.8 Gy of whole-body irradiation. The survival rates of these mice were observed within 30 days after irradiation. The survival rate of lactoferrin-diet mice were about 23% higher than those of mice on a standard diet, and the rates dropped sharply to a plateau at day 10 after X-ray irradiation. The scavenging abilities of lactoferrin were evaluated by the ESR spin-trapping method. Lactoferrin is a radical scavenger of hydroxyl radicals and the observations suggested that radical trapping or scavenging might cause the biological response.