Evaluation of Therapeutic Efficacy of Prodigiosan in Experiments on Irradiated Sheep
Radioprotective therapeutic efficacy of prodigiosan was evaluated through examination of the levels of total erythrocytes, thrombocytes, leucocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, and the phagocytic activity of neutrophils in venous blood; also studied was bactericidal blood serum, lysozyme and interfering activity indices, cortisol concentrations, levels of autoantibodies against the hemolysate, spleen cells and testis lysates in blood sera, cAMP and cGMP levels in blood plasma, and survival of the sheep affected by a medullary form of the acute radiation syndrome. It is found that a single intramuscular injection of prodigiosan at a dose of 5 mg/kg administered within 10 to 20 min, 3 and 24 hours after external γ-irradiation with <sup>137</sup>Cs quanta at a dose of 4 Gy (LD<sub>80–100/60</sub>), with the dose rate intensity of 0.8 Gy/hour, can reduce the severity of the hemorrhagic syndrome, post-radiation thrombocytopenia and leukopenia, as well as activate the adrenal cortex function, stimulate the endogenous interferon formation, enhance the phagocytic capacity of neutrophils, raise the cAMP concentration in blood plasma and the level of autoantibody against testis lysate, which results in the survival rates that are 54.2% higher in the sheep exposed to radiation as compared to the controls.