Hong Shan Capsule (HSC) offers radioprotection and modulates acute lethal total-body irradiation-induced alterations of gene expression in rats. Rattus norvegicus

To further investigate the potential molecular basis of the protective effects of HSC on irradiation (6.5Gy) damage, gene expression analysis was conducted on rats liver tissues using microarrays.Pre-treatment with HSC prevented differential expression of 66% (1,398 genes) of 2,126 genes differentially expressed in response to radiation. Pathway enrichment analysis indicated that these genes were mainly involved in a total of 32 pathways, such as olfactory transduction, uroactive ligand-receptor interaction, pathways in cancer, calcium signaling pathway, vascular smooth muscle contraction, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, peroxisomal proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR）signaling pathway, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) signaling pathway, Wnt signaling pathway, janus kinase-signal transducers and activators of transcription (Jak-STAT) signaling pathway, Notch signaling pathway.Our analysis indicated that the pretreatment of rats with HSC attenuated radiation-induced these pathways, such as multiple MAPK pathways, suggesting that the protective effect of HSC acts mainly through the attenuation of these pathways. Overall design: The rats were randomly assigned to one of the three following treatment groups (10-12 animals per group): normal control, radiation and HSC dose (10g/kg body weight/day) + radiation. HSC dissolved in double distilled water were administered intragastrically to the male animals for 3 consecutive days before irradiation. Radiation induced gene expression in rat liver was measured at 24 hours after 6.5 Gy exposure.