Comparison of the Radioprotective Potential Between Tomato Sauce and Raw Tomato on the Intestinal Mucosa of Male Swiss Mice

Abstract

A comparison of the radioprotective potential on the intestinal mucosa of male Swiss mice was made between commercial tomato sauce and raw tomato. Twenty mice were used, and were divided into four groups with five mice per group. The first group of mice were each force-fed with 0.5mL commercial tomato sauce while another group were force-ted with 0.5mL raw tomato individually for seven days. The remaining groups represented the control groups, one was the positive group while the other group was the negative control. Afterwards, the treated groups and the positive control group were irradiated with 600 rad gamma radiation, and the duodenum of the all mice were excised after three days for histological preparation. The mucosal thickness was measured in mm and the number of viable crypts were counted per mm. The data gathered were tabulated and analyzed with the use of ANOVA and Student's T-test. Results showed that the negative group of mice obtained the highest number of viable crypts at 21.4 crypts/mm and the thickest mucosa at 0.60424mm. It was also observed that the positive group obtained the lowest number of viable crypts at 11.6 crypts/mm and the thinnest mucosa at 0.54048mm. The group treated with raw tomato has lesser number of viable crypts at 14.6 crypts/mm and thinner mucosal thickness at 0.57504mm when compared with the group treated with tomato sauce, with 20.6 viable crypts/mm and 0.58848mm mucosal thickness. It was revealed that commercial tomato sauce imparts a more effective radioprotection of the intestinal mucosa than raw tomato.