Rosemary Extract Protect Against y-irradiation Induced Clastogenicity

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is widely accepted as one of the medicinal herb with the highest antioxidant activity. The present study aimed to examine the radioprotective potentiality and efficacy of Rosemary against damage induced by whole body y-irradiattion. This study was performed on four groups of female rats, i.e. control group, Rosemary group, y-irradiated group and Rosemary and y-irradiated group. In each group, cytogenetical studies,chromosome aberrations and micronucleus test, have been done using bone marrow cells. DAN fragmentation assay have been done using liver cells. Results reveled that the chromosome aberration assay in bone marrow cells and micronuclei cells pointed out a significant difference between rats received Rosemary post irradiation and y-irradiated rats. Also, there was a significant increase in DNA fragmentation in y-irradiated group. When Rosemary was used after irradiation the percentage of DNA fragmentation was significantly decreased. It was concluded that Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) extract was effective in the protection against clastogenic effects of radiation due to their higher content of different antioxidant constitutes and its ability to scavenge free radicals generated by radiation.