Radioprotective Effect of Edaravone

Abstract

Edaravone is clinically used as radical scavenger for the treatment of acute cerebral infarction. We examined the effect of edaravone as radioprotector. We used MOLT-4 cells which are known to induce apoptosis by radiation to study about the radioprotective effect of edaravone. We observed that edaravone prevented MOLT-4 cells from radiation-induced death suggesting that it has radioprotective effect. Especially, we found that cell death was inhibited even when edaravone was employed after radiation. Radical scavenger dose not generally have radioprotective effect when it is employed after radiation because it protects cells from apoptosis by capturing free radicals generated by radiation. Thus, it is suggested that edaravone inhibits apoptosis by another mechanism.