**5.1 Alpha tocopherol monoglucoside (TMG)**

TMG, a water-soluble derivative of Vitamin E, has been reported to be a good radioprotector with low toxicity (Kapoor et al. 2002; Nair et al. 2004; Rajagopalan et al. 2002). It has been reported that an oral administration of 2 g/kg body weight of TMG, five minutes prior to radiation exposure, resulted in early recovery of the radiation-induced weight loss (Nair et al. 2003). Embryonic death, resulting from exposure to 2 Gy radiation in pregnant mice, was reduced by 75% with a single intra peritoneal injection of TMG (0.6 g/kg body weight) prior to the radiation exposure. However, the administration of TMG after the radiation exposure did not have any effect on the embryonic mortality (Nair et al. 2003). A single intra peritoneal injection of TMG (0.6 g/kg) to mice, after whole body irradiation, elevated the LD50 (30) from 6 to 6.72 Gy (Nair et al. 2003). Radiation induced formation of micronucleated polychromatic and normochromatic erythrocytes in mouse bone marrow cells was inhibited by a single injection of TMG (0.6 g/kg body weight) i.p. after the radiation exposure with a dose reduction factor of 0.5 (Satyamitra et al. 2001). Our in vitro studies, either with humans or mice, peripheral blood leucocytes showed that the presence of TMG (0.5 mM) in post-irradiation incubation medium did not enhance the repair of DNA strand breaks(Salvi et al. 2007). TMG is also effective in preventing radiation-induced bone marrow death in mice and enhance hematopoietic recovery (Ueno et al. 2009), (Cherdyntseva et al. 2005).
