Effects of Radioprotective Ginseng on Protein UV induced Sister Chromatid Exchanges

To elucidate the reaction mechanism of ginseng protein on its antiradiation activity, its effects were studied on sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) induced by UV irradiation in CHO-KI cells. When cells were irradiated with 254 nm UV light at the dose of 0 to 8erg$\textrm{mm}^2$, the frequencies of CSE were increased more than two fold. However, when radio protective ginseng protein was added to the cells before the after UV irradiation, SCE frequencies were decreased significantly at all UV doses in both cases with no significant differences. As the amount of ginseng protein was varied from 100 to 500 .mu.g/ml, with UV irradiation at 60 erg$\textrm{mm}^2$, SCE frequencies dropped sharply at the first two concentrations and then reached a sort of plateau in both cases of pre-and post-treatment. When the ginseng protein was treated alone without UV irradiation, there were no changes in SCE frequencies no matter when the protein was added. There results suggest that the ginseng protein could reduced DNA damages, which may play an important role in the reaction mechanism of radioprotective activity of the protein.