Protection against genotoxic damages following whole body gamma radiation exposure in mice by lipoic acid

► Enormous efforts have been directed, towards developing an agent to protect man and other life forms from deleterious effects of ionizing radiation. ► Alpha-lipoic acid an important biomolecule, participating as a prosthetic group in various important cellular enzymatic reactions, having high antioxidant activity was explored for its protective effects on ionizing radiation induced genotoxic damages by employing plasmid relaxation, comet, micronucleus and chromosomal aberration assays. ► We conclude that lipoic acid could be used as a safe and non-toxic radioprotector against radiation exposure scenarios.