REV. CHIM. (Bucureºti) ♦ 61♦ Nr. 3 ♦ 2010 http://www.revistadechimie.ro 235 Radio-protective Potential of Rosemary (Rosmarinus Officinalis) against Effects of Ionising Radiation MARIA MARIS 1 , DAN A. MARIS 1 , SILVIU JIPA 2,3* , TRAIAN ZAHARESCU 3 , LAURA MONICA GORGHIU 2 1 „Ovidius” University of Constanþa, Faculty of Dental Medicine, 7 Ilarie Horonca Str., 900684, Constanta, Romania 2 Valahia University of Targoviste, Faculty of Sciences and Arts, 18-24 Unirii Av., 130082, Targoviste, România 3 INCDIE ICPE CA, Department of Radiation Processing, 313 Splaiul Unirii, 030138, Bucharest, România Several herbs have been screened for their antioxidative activity using chemiluminescence method. Rosemary contains phenolic diterpenes, phenolic acids and flavonoids which protect cells and their organic constituent molecules from free radical radiation- induced oxidative damage. Effects of 0.1 and 0.2 g/Kg body wt. of Rosemary extract on radiation – induced morbidity and mortality in mice exposed to 10Gy of gamma radiation were studied for the characterization of high efficiency protection exhibited by Rosemary extract. Keywords: rosemary, chemoluminescence, antioxidative activity, ionizing radiation, morbidity, mortality The human organisms could be exposed to ionizing radiation in clinical, military or industrial applications. Gamma irradiation causes oxidative stress generating reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl (HO · ) radicals, superoxide radicals (O 2 ) and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ). These free radicals can easily damage the structural and functional components of cells such as lipids, proteins and nucleic acids, causing oxidative injury and disturbance in cellular metabolism. By definition, radioprotectors are chemical compounds that have the ability to reduce the oxidative effects of ionizing radiation on normal tissues. Numerous studies have examined the radio-protective effects of antioxidant compounds, generally known as free radical scavengers, which protect cells from free radical damage. Various plant extracts such as Ginkgo biloba [1], Panax ginseng [2], Mentha piperita [3], Zingiber officinale [4], Camellia sinensis [5], Hippophae rhammoides [6], Allium sativum [7], Agaricus blazei a.s.o., have been investigated to evaluate their radio-protective effects. The present study deals with the radio-protective activity of ethanolic extract prepared from Rosmarinus officinalis in terms of antioxidative activity and on Swiss albino mice post irradiation morbidness and death rate, respectively. Experimental part The dried Rosemary plant (10 g) and the extracting solvent (ethanol) were placed in an Erlenmeyer flask (250mL); the ratio of plant material and extracting solvent was 1:10 w/v. Maceration was performed for 120 h at room temperature, by permanent shaking. * email: jipasilviu@yahoo.comTel.: (+40) 01 / 3143508 int. 2153 The liquid extract was separated from the plant material by filtration, and the solvent was evaporated under vacuum. The solid extract has been used for paraffin modification (0.25 wt %). Similarly, paraffin samples of extracts from other radioprotective extracts from plants have been obtained (fig. 1). Isothermal chemiluminescence determinations were performed in air at 160 0 C by a Lumipol-3 instrument. The meanings of kinetic that are evaluated in this paper are presented in figure 1 and table 1. The radio-protective capability of the Rosemary extract was analysed on a batch of 60 white mice. All mice were adults, ages over 15 weeks, both genders, weight ranging between 20 and 30 g each. The location chosen for the experiment provided a constant environmental temperature of 21±2 o C, an atmospheric pressure of 759±4 mm Hg and natural lighting. For a period of four days the mice were given tetracycline to prevent infection. Fig. 1. Kinetic parameters from typical chemiluminogram Table 1 CL PARAMETERS AND THEIR MEANING ·-