Rutin and Quercetin Protect Bone Marrow Against Harms of Radiation Therapy

by | Apr 19, 2016 | 2014, Cancer, Quercetin

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Radiated mice who received quercetin and rutin had 23.6% less damage to their chromosomes than the “radiated-only” mice while the “radiated-only” mice had double the amount of chromosomes damage compared to the control group.

Radiation treatment in cancer patients has been shown to have “great impact” on cancer cells (1) but has a detrimental impact on DNA healthy tissue (2) and this is problematic for healthy tissues as DNA repair plays “critical roles” in protecting cells (3, 4). As a result, finding ways to ways to let radiation kill cancer cells but finding ways to protect healthy cells “is of immediate need.”

In a 2014 study (5), 16 Swiss albino mice weighing 25-30 grams each were put into 1 of 4 groups (4 mice in each group) for 5 days after which bone marrow samples were obtained and damage to chromosome (called “aberrations”) measured:

  • Radiation only: mice were radiated on day 5 “at a dose rate of 1.33 Gy/min and source‑to‑surface distance of 61 centimeters.”
  • Rutin and Quercetin only: each mouse was given rutin (20 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight) and quercetin (20 mg/kg/bw) for 5 days with no radiation exposure.
  • Rutin and Quercetin before radiation: each mouse was given rutin (20 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight) and quercetin (20 mg/kg/bw) for 5 days before radiation exposure on day 5.
  • Control group: No radiation and no rutin/quercetin.

Researchers found that mice in the radiation-only group had more than double the amount of chromosomal aberrations compared to the control group (2.12 versus 1.05, p < 0.05). For the supplemented groups, quercetin/rutin-only mice had 1.12 aberrations while rutin/quercetin-radiation mice had 23.6% lower aberrations than the radiation-only group (1.62 versus 2.12 aberrations, p < 0.05), showing a protective effect of rutin and quercetin on DNA health in the presence of radiation.

For the researchers, “Results from the present study suggest that rutin and quercetin, naturally occurring phenolic compounds, effectively protect cells against radiation‑induced genotoxicity.” In fact, previous research demonstrates that rutin can and does induce apoptosis in cancer cell lines. (6,7) During normal cell growth, flavonoids like rutin and quercetin serve as a protective agents by supporting the production and activity of other antioxidants within the cell to combat oxidative onslaughts. However, if the cell is already damaged ( i.e. in the case of cancer), flavonoids generally follow a different pathway and promote cell death or arrest cell growth and division. (7, 8)

Source: Patil, Shrikant L., Nageshwar B. Rao, H. M. Somashekarappa, and K. P. Rajashekhar. “Antigenotoxic potential of rutin and quercetin in Swiss mice exposed to gamma radiation.” Biomed J 37, no. 5 (2014): 305-313.

Posted April 19, 2016.

References:

  1. Essers J, van Steeg H, de Wit J, Swagemakers SM, Vermeij M, Hoeijmakers JH, et al. Homologous and non‑homologous recombination differentially affect DNA damage repair in mice. EMBO J 2000;19:1703‑10.
  2. Hall EJ. Acute effects of total‑body irradiation, Radiobiology for the Radiologist. 2nd ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2000. p. 42‑59
  3. Seo YR, Kelley MR, Smith ML. Selenomethionine regulation of p53 by a ref1‑dependent redox mechanism. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2002;99:14548‑53
  4. Jung HJ, Kim EH, Mun JY, Park S, Smith ML, Han SS, et al. Base excision DNA repair defect in Gadd45a‑deficient cells. Oncogene 2007;26:7517‑25
  5. Patil SL. Antigenotoxic potential of rutin and quercetin in Swiss mice exposed to gamma radiation. Biomed J 2014 Sep-Oct;37(5):305-13. doi: 10.4103/2319-4170.132880
  6. Pathak S, et al. Ruta 6 selectively induces cell death in brain cancer cells but proliferation in normal peripheral blood lymphocytes: A novel treatment for human brain cancer. Int J Oncol. 2003 Oct;23(4):975-82.
  7. Perk AA, et al. Rutin mediated targeting of signaling machinery in cancer cells. Cancer Cell Int. 2014 Nov 30;14(1):124.
  8. Yao H, et al. Dietary flavonoids as cancer prevention agents. J Environ Sci Health C Environ Carcinog Ecotoxicol Rev. 2011;29(1):1-31.