Effect of herbal preparation, brahma rasayana, in amelioration of radiation induced damage.

Oral administration of brahma rasayana (BR; 10 and 50 mg/dose/animal) for 15 days increased significantly total leukocyte count and percentage of polymorphonuclear cells in irradiated mice. Bone marrow cellularity and alpha-esterase positive cells also increased significantly in radiation-treated animals after BR administration. Number of nodular colonies on the surface of spleen on day seven increased significantly in lethally irradiated recipients receiving bone marrow cells from animals treated with BR. Oral administration of BR also enhanced in serum level of interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin-2 (IL-2), and granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor(GM-CSF) in normal and irradiated mice. These results indicated that proliferation of stem cells induced by BR in irradiated mice may be related to its stimulation of cytokine production.