Abstract: This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of Hunan Dark Tea against radiation injuries in mice. Peripheral blood index,immune system index,superoxide dismutase of anti-oxidative index and survival time estimation were used to observe the effect of Dark Tea to protect mice from radiation injuries. Compared with the irradiation-only group,the results showed that Dark Tea can effectively increase the white blood cell (WBC),the number of bone narrow nucleated cells (BMNC),DNA content of bone marrow and colony forming unit- spleen (CFU-S) of mice irradiated with 6.5 Gy γ-rays. The difference was significant (P<0.05). Besides,the SOD activities of the liver and lung tissue of mice irradiated with 6.0 Gy γ-rays in Dark Tea administrated group markedly increased when compared with irradiationonly group. The difference was significant (P<0.05);In addition,Dark Tea also prolonged the survival time of mice from 8.6±1.96 d to 11.13±2.75 d after irradiated with 8.0 Gy γ-rays. All these experimental results suggested that Dark Tea have good anti-radiation activities.

Key words: dark tea, radiation injury, anti-oxidation, anti-radiation