Choline glycerophosphate and silymarin modulate brain and intestinal injuries in rats exposed to gamma-radiation

Background: the aim of this study was to investigate the role of choline glycerophosphate (gpc) either alone or combined with silymarin in modulating whole body gamma irradiation-induced brain and intestinal injuries in rats. materials and methods: rats were irradiated with 7gy then subjected to gpc and/ or silymarin for two weeks. at the end of the experiment, the animals were sacrificed then, brain and intestine samples were removed for biochemical, molecular and histopathological examinations. results: it has been detected that gpc alone or combined with silymarin ameliorated the adverse effects of radiation as revealed by the inhibition of oxidative stress, apoptotic and inflammatory markers [malondialdehyde (mda), caspase-3 tumors necrosis factor-α (tnf-α), interleukin-1β (il-1β) and nuclear factor kappa-b (nf-kb)]. however, total antioxidant capacity (tac), anti-inflammatory marker, interleukin-10 (il-10) and inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-ba (ikba) mrna were increased. this was also accompanied by a significant increase in the acetylcholine (ach) level, choline acetyltransferase (chat) activity and alpha-7 nicotinic receptor (α7nachr), mrna-expression and a significant decrease in the activity of acetylcholine esterase (ache) as compared with the corresponding values of the irradiated group. moreover, a reduction in the tissue lesions was observed in brain and intestinal tissues. conclusion: choline glycerolphosphate and silymarin exhibited modulating effect against detrimental effects of gamma-radiation via cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway.