Mitigative Effects of a Combination of Multiple Pharmaceutical Drugs on the Survival of Mice Exposed to Lethal Ionizing Radiation

It is important to establish an easy-to-use therapeutic protocol for the emergency medical care of patients involved in radiation accidents to reduce the radiation-related casualties. The present study aimed to establish an optimum therapeutic protocol using currently approved pharmaceutical drugs to increase the survival of victims exposed to lethal radiation. Different combinations of four drugs-recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO), granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), c-mpl receptor agonist romiplostim (RP) and nandrolone decanoate (ND)-were administered to mice within 2 h after exposure to a lethal 7 Gy dose of γ-irradiation. On day 30 after irradiation, the condition of the mice was analyzed using various hematological parameters, such as the number of peripheral blood cells, bone marrow cells, hematopoietic progenitor cells and the expression of cell surface antigens. Approximately 10% of the untreated irradiated control mice survived for 21 days, but all of the control mice died by day 30. The combined administration of G-CSF, EPO and RP for five days immediately after irradiation led to a complete survival of the irradiated mice until day 30. However, the treatment with G-CSF, EPO and RP with ND led to only 75% survival at day 30. The hematological analyses showed that the numbers of almost all of hematopoietic cells in the surviving mice treated with effective medications recovered to the levels of non-irradiated mice. The present findings show that the combination of G-CSF, EPO and RP may be a useful countermeasure for victims exposed to accidental lethal irradiation. Keywords: Currently approved pharmaceutical drugs, multiple combinations, lethal dose of ionizing irradiation, radiomitigative effects.