Mortality reduction in mice administered a single abundant dose of zinc, manganese or magnesium after irradiation by gamma-rays at sublethal doses

Radioprotective effect has been observed in mice which have subcutaneously received a single dose of abundant inorganic zinc or manganese 24 hours before gamma-ray irradiation with a sublethal dose. Mechanism of the radioprotection has been suggested to be an abundant production of metallothionein (MT) induced by the metals. But process of the protection might be more complicated because immunological and hematopoietic functions are remarkably inhibited by the irradiation and many zinc binding-compounds with biological functions are known at present. Furthermore, the effect of these metals has been observed by the administration only before the irradiation. Radioprotective effect was shown in mice which were administered with not only zinc and manganese, but also magnesium. It seems that mechanism of the radioprotection of magnesium is different from that of zinc or manganese since magnesium is not known to induce MT production. It was observed that the relative concentration ratio of radioactivity in tissues and organs at 7th day (after injection of 65Zn) showed a marked difference between in irradiated and non-irradiated mice.