Characterization of Gamma Irradiation Absorbing Compounds from Lichens for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

There is a significant public health concern about the potential effects of gamma radiation to human beings especially on reproductive outcomes Disorders of reproduction to reproductive health have become prominent issues in recent past due to adverse effects of gamma radiation on reproductive functions in human beings subsequently leads to infertility Lichens are the natural potential source which has the ability to absorb gamma radiation as they have radiation absorbing compounds in it They are the combination of both fungal and algal partners which produces the cortical pigments to regulate the solar irradiance reaching the algal layer by absorbing the maximum light from sunlight and thus protecting the photosynthetic partner against intense radiation of sunlight To keep in mind attempts have been made to collect different lichen communities from Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu and subject to extract gamma radiation absorbing compounds from the thallus of lichens The gamma radiation absorbing novel compounds have been separated purified and characterized from lichens of Parmotrema Parmelinellaand Ramalina spp By following the methods of TLC HPLC GC MS and NMR The results showed that gamma radiation absorbing compounds such as lecanoric acid salacinic acid and atranorin were characterized The proposed project would be of more useful to prepare new drug molecules from lichens against the adverse effect of gamma irradiations as chemotherapeutic agents