A newly developed drug has shown promise in helping mice recover from toxic radiation exposure. When given the small molecule dimethyloxyallyl glycine, or DMOG, four hours after radiation exposure, 45 percent of the treated animals survived at least 10 days. Untreated mice exposed to radiation did not live that long. Even when DMOG was given 24 hours after exposure, the mice’s mortality was reduced, researchers report May 14 in Science Translational Medicine. The result is a small step toward the larger goal of making effective treatments for human radiation exposure, whether as a medical treatment or after a nuclear disaster.
