In the present study, to determine whether the ascorbate protect against radiation damage and the possible relationship among the radioprotective effects and antioxidant actions, the effects of ascorbate(240 mg/kg, i.p) pretreatment of mice on the survival ratio, splenic weight, major antioxidant enzymes(SOD, catalase and glutathione peroxidase) activities, glutathione contents and lipid peroxidation in the liver were examined for 2 weeks after whole-body ${gamma}-irradiation$(6.5 Gy). The 30-day survival ratio Increased from 10% to 47% for mice treated with ascorbate. The ascorbate decreased the extent of loss in splenic weight and stimulated recovery of splenic weight in irradiated mice(p<0.01). On the day of 14 after ${gamma-irradiation}$, the ascorbate pretreatment produced a slight increase of antioxidant enzymes activities and significantly increased reduced glutathione(GSH) contents(P<0.05) in the liver compared with non-treated group. Pretreatment with the ascorbate significantly decreased GSSG/total GSH ratio(p<0.05) without the change of GSSG in the liver and inhibited the radiation-induced increase in the hepatic malondialdehyde levels(p<0.05). In these results, we found that its radioprotective effect by protecting antioxidant enzyme activities and glutathione contents from radiation induced a decrease, and thereby suppressing lipid peroxidation which is induced by free radicals.