Administration of nitro-oleic acid mitigates radiation-induced hematopoietic injury in mice

Limited number of agents that provide protection against hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome led us to the evaluation of nitro-oleic acid (NO₂OA) as a potential protector/mitigator against radiation-induced hematopoietic injury in C57/BL6 mice.

NO₂OA was administered before and after sub-lethal total body irradiation (TBI) and hematological parameters were evaluated 3 or 7 days after TBI.

Our results show that NO₂OA significantly increase bone marrow cellularity including the granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells and erythroid progenitors on the 3rd day after TBI. In addition, NO₂OA enhanced recovery of white blood cells (lymphocytes, neutrophils, and monocytes) in peripheral blood 7 days after irradiation. These effects may be in part attributed to NO₂OA-induced granulocyte colony-stimulating factor production after TBI. On the other hand, radiation-induced impairment of peripheral red blood cells, hemoglobin, and platelets were not affected with NO₂OA treatment up to 7 days post TBI.

In conclusion, our data show that NO₂OA significantly protects hematopoiesis after irradiation, and thus showed a high potential to act as an agent for medical radiation countermeasure.