Evaluation of the effect of chamomile extract on lingual histological changes in rabbit received 5-fluorouracil (histological and immunohistochemical study)

Abstract

Background and objective: Chamomile has been used as an herbal medication sinceancient times and is still popular until today. This study aimed to investigate the potentialanticytotoxic effect of chamomile extract on the lingual mucosa of rabbits treated with5-fluorouracil (5-FU).Methods: Thirty six rabbits were used in the study. For induction of tongue mucositis forthe study group, 5-FU at a dose of (4 mg/kg) was administered intraperitoneally one timedaily for five successive days. The control animals were intraperitoneally injected bynormal saline one time daily for five successive days. The rats in each group wererandomly divided into two groups: Distilled water and chamomile extract treated groups(9 animals each). A volume of distilled water equal to chamomile extract was given bygavage tube, while the other group was gavaged with chamomile extract at a dose of (100mg/ kg) one time daily. The treatment with distilled water or the chamomile extract wascontinued for sixteen days and then the animals were sacrificed, and the tongues wereexcised for histopathological and immunohistochemical analysis.Results: The 5-FU/water treated group showed a significant increase in histologicaldamage scores, decrease in the ki-67and increase in caspase -3 epithelial immuneexpression (P <0.05) in comparison with saline/water treated group. The 5-FU/chamomiletreated group showed a significant increase in damage score, significant decrease in ki-67immune expression and significant increase in caspase-3 immune expression (P <0.05) incomparison with 5-FU/water treated group.Conclusion: Chamomile extract at a dose of (100 mg/ kg) one time daily for sixteen dayscannot be used for the treatment of oral mucositis. It causes damage to the tissue,decreases proliferation, and increases apoptosis.