Evaluation of radioprotective potential of medicinally important Indian bamboo leaves

Humans are exposed to ionizing radiation (IR) from numerous sources including natural background, increased use of nuclear energy, diagnostic procedures and the treatment of cancer by radiotherapy throughout life. IR exerts its damaging effect by direct ionization, causing disruption of chemical bonds and structure of DNA and indirect effect by generation of highly reactive free radicals and their subsequent reaction with cellular macro molecules. It has been more than 6 decades of research but still safe, ideal and effective radio protector for human use remains ambiguous. So, the safety issues have emphasized researchers to develop radio protector from natural resources having minimal toxicity . Present study includes preparation of polyphenol rich extract, isolation and quantification of phyto compounds using various chromatographic  and spectroscopic techniques. Evaluation of clastogenic effect of radiation and protection by extract on various animal models and in vitro assays.