Protective effects of polysaccharides from soybean meal against X-ray radiation induced damage in mouse spleen lymphocytes

The aim of this study was to investigate radioprotective effect of the polysaccharides from soybean meal (SMP) against X-ray radiation-induced damage in mouse spleen lymphocytes. MTT and comet assay were performed to evaluate SMP's ability to prevent cell death and DNA damage induced by radiation. The results show that, X-ray radiation (30 KV, 10 mA, 8 min (4 Gy)) can significantly increase cell death and DNA fragmentation of mouse spleen lymphocytes. Pretreatment with SMP for 2 h before radiation could increase cell viability, moreover, the SMP can reduce X-ray radiation-induced DNA damage. The percentage of tail DNA and the tail moment of the SMP groups were significantly lower than those of the radiation alone group (p < 0.05). These results suggest SMP may be a good candidate as a radioprotective agent.