Myelo-Enhancement by Astragalus Membranaceus in Male Albino Rats with Chemotherapy Myelo-Suppression. Histological and Immunohistochemical Study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Myelo-suppression is the most common toxicity encountered in the oncology clinic today. This study was planned to investigate the possible protective and therapeutic role of the traditional Chinese Medicinal Herb; Astragalus Membranaceus (AM), on chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study was carried out on thirty six adult male albino rats. They were divided into: Group I Control Group (n=6) received a vehicle of phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution. Group II (n=12) were injected I.P. with cyclophosphamide (CY) for 3 days (gIIa n =6) and continued for one more week to receive AM orally (gIIb n=6). Group III (n=6) received CY I.P. together with AM orally for 3 days. Group IV (n=12) received AM orally for one week (gIVa n=6) and continued for extra three days receiving CY I.P. with AM orally (gIVb n=6). Blood samples were analysed for Total Leucocytic Count and Lymphocytic Count. Counting of CD34 +ve cells in bone marrow was performed by flowcytometry. Bone marrow sections were subjected to H&E stain as well as immunohistochemical staining for anti- CD20 antibody. The mean area % of cellular bone marrow regions occupied by developing haemopoietic cells, mean area of fat cells and mean number of CD20 immunopositive B lymphocytes in the bone marrow were measured by histomorphometric studies and statistically compared. AM proved to have a myelo-protective and myelo-therapeutic capacity, evidenced at both laboratory and morphological levels. CONCLUSIONS: The greatest myelo-potentiating effect of AM was achieved when supplied before and together with CY therapy.

The Effect of In Vivo Mobilization of Bone Marrow Stem Cells on the Pancreas of Diabetic Albino Rats (A Histological & Immunohistochemical Study)

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The rapidly increasing number of diabetic patients across the world drew the attention to develop more effective therapeutic approaches. Recent investigations on newly differentiated insulin producing cells (IPCs) revealed that they could be derived from embryonic, adult mesenchymal and hematopoietic stem cells. This work was planned to evaluate the role of StemEnhance (Aphanizomenon flos-aquae [AFA] plant extract) in mobilizing naturally occurring bone marrow stem cells as well as in improving streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty adult male albino rats were divided into four groups namely the control, the diabetic, the positive control-StemEnhance and the diabetic-StemEnhance groups. After diabetes induction by streptozotocin (STZ), rats received StemEnhance for four weeks. The mean number of blood CD34 immunopositive cells was measured by flowcytometry and random blood sugar was measured weekly. The pancreas was removed from the sacrificed rats and processed for staining with H&E and immunohistochemical staining for CD34+ve and insulin +ve cells. CD34+ve cells increased in the blood after introduction of StemEnhance. CD34+ve cells were observed in the pancreas and the insulin producing cells in the islets of Langerhans were increased from the second to the fourth week of treatment. Blood glucose level improved but it was still higher than the control level after four weeks of StemEnhance treatment. CONCLUSIONS: This work points to the significant role of StemEnhance in stem cell mobilization and the improvement of diabetes mellitus.

Heat preconditioning reduces subsequent ischemia reperfusion injury in rat kidney: a possible role for HSP-72

Improving the ability of the kidney to tolerate ischemic injury has important implication in renal transplantation. On the other hand, thermo tolerance describes the process in which hyperthermia induces a transient resistance of the stressed cells to subsequent episodes of oxidative stress. The current study was performed to evaluate the beneficial effect of heat preconditioning induced HSP-72 formation on renal ischemia reperfusion [I/R] induced damage. Four groups of rats [n=20/group] were included: Control sham-operated group [group I], heat-preconditioned sham-operated group [group II], I/R injury group [group III] and heat pre-conditioned I/R injury group [group IV]. Heat-preconditioning was induced 24h prior to sham operation and or I/R injury by increasing the core body temperature to [41 +/- 0.5°C] for 20min. The rat kidneys were subjected to ischemia by 20min of bilateral renal artery occlusion followed by reperfusion for 24 and 48h. After 24 and 48h of reperfusion, serum urea, creatinine, 24h urine out put and albumin content as well as the renal HSP-72 gene expression and MDA level were measured. Also light microscopic examination of renal tissue specimens was performed. It was found that group IV had a significant increase in renal HSP-72 gene expression compared to group III [898.36 +/- 107.82 versus 572.88 +/- 47.08 micro g/g tissue], associated with a significant improvement of its renal functions including serum urea, creatinine and 24h urine volume out put. Also there was a reduction in renal tissue injury detected by a significant decrease in urine albumin content, a significant decrease in renal MDA level and improvement in specimen microscopic picture compared to group III. The increase in HSP-72 expression and its renoprotective effect were significantly greater 24h after I/R than after 48h. Thus it can be concluded that upregulation of HSP-72 after heat preconditioning has a renal beneficial effect and can be a target for protection of renal functions during I/R injury