Radiomitigating effect of lactoferrin in acute gamma-irradiation of mice: behavior, brain and bone marrow cells

Abstract

People may be exposed to radiation due to their professional activities, or when faced with the need to receive medical care. With radiation therapy and radiodiagnostics, patients may have side effects such as immune suppression, a decrease in the number of white blood cells, neurological complications, and progressive cognitive dysfunction. The search for effective and safe medicines for the prevention and early pathogenetic therapy of radiation damage is relevant.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of lactoferrin (Lf) on changes caused by acute total gamma-irradiation in mice (survival, body weight, motor and research activity, brain and bone marrow cells).

Methods: whole-body gamma-radiation of C57BL/6 mice in a dose of 7.5 Gy, administration of Lf, administration of 5-ethyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU), body weight measurement, survival analysis (30 days), Open Field test, immunofluorescence analysis of bone marrow cells and brain sections using click-reactions with azide Alexa Fluor 568, primary antibodies to markers of mature neurons (NeuN), immature neurons (DCX) and corresponding secondary antibodies labeled with fluorophores Alexa Fluor 647, Alexa Fluor 488, Hoechst nuclear dye.

Results. Lf has demonstrated a radiomitigating effect on the experimental animals with acute radiation damage. The administration of the studied protein increased survival during the experiment (30 days), compensated for radiation-induced body weight loss, prevented suppression of motor and research activity, and had a protective effect on brain cells of irradiated mice.

Conclusion. The results obtained indicate the prospects for the development of radioprotective drugs based on lactoferrin to reduce the side effects of radiation therapy, for the prevention and treatment of neurological and cognitive complications of radiation damage.