Haematopoietic activity ofAsteracantha longifoliaon cyclophosphamide-induced bone marrow suppression

Abstract

Chloroform extract of the leaves of Asteracantha longifolia at different doses (250 and 500 mg/kg body weight) was examined on anaemic albino rat for certain haematological parameters like erythrocyte count, leukocyte count, and haemoglobin count. Chloroform extract was found to significantly (b,b1,b2,b3P <0.05) improve erythrocyte and haemoglobin count on the 22nd day (d) after 7 d of continuous cyclophosphamide (3 mg/kg body weight) treatment. Treatment with chloroform extract along with cyclophosphamide was found to significantly ( P <0.001) increase the bone marrow cellularity (11.5×106) as compared to cyclophosphamide alone treated group (6.2×106). Administration of extract increased the number of a-esterase positive cells (1062/4000) in the bone marrow of cyclophosphamide-treated animals, compared to the cyclophosphamide alone treated group (650/4000). The major activity of A. longifolia may be stimulation of stem cell proliferation. The observations that A. longifolia could reduce the cyclophosphamide-induced toxicity may indicate its usefulness in cancer therapy.