الفهرس Only 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 188 |  |  |
| | | from | 188 | | |
Abstract
Intestinal mucositis is a common adverse effect that occurs in patients undergoing radiotherapy and often constitutes an important treatment limiting factor during therapy. In an effort to find agents that can effectively guard against this side effect, the present study was initiated to investigate the possible role of certain natural products such as aqueous extract of propolis (AEP) and the herbal preparation, STW 5, in this respect. Intestinal mucositis was induced in rats by exposing them to different radiation exposure levels, delivered either as single (acute) doses or as fractionated ones. Rats were treated orally with AEP (450, 650 and 850 mg/kg) or STW 5 (2, 5 and 10 ml/kg) few days before and continued for 2 days after radiation exposure. Twenty four hours later, the rats were sacrificed and segments of the small intestine were examined histologically. Intestinal homogenates and serum samples were used to assess relevant parameters for apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Exposure to radiation produced dose-dependent extents of intestinal injury as judged histologically