Nigella Sativa Seed Oil Effectively Attenuates Cyclophosphamide‐Induced Myelosuppression in Mice

Abstract

Myelosuppression is one of the serious adverse effects of cancer chemotherapy that lead to life threatening febrile neutropenia and considered a limiting factor for successful therapy. Cyclophosphamide (Cyc), a widely used anticancer drug, induces severe myelosuppression by damaging hematopoietic stem cells. As cancer incidence expands globally, the demand for an effective myeloprotective therapy during cancer treatment is also increasing. Nigella sativa seed oil (NG oil), a well‐known plant extract that widely used for various health conditions. This study aims to evaluate the myeloprotective activity of NG oil in cyclophosphamide‐induced myelosuppression mice model. Myelosuppression induced by single IP injection of Cyc (200 mg/kg). Animals were divided into 4 groups each with 6 mice. First group served as negative control group received only normal saline. A second group served as experimental myelosuppression model group achieved by Cyc. Additional 2 groups were mice received NG oil (1ml/Kg/day) or (2ml/Kg/day) orally for 6 consecutive days starting day 1 with Cyc on day 3. On day 7, blood were collected from retro–orbital area for total and differential leukocytes counts. were collected from retro–orbital area for total and differential leukocytes counts. Compared to model group, we reported that NG oil (1ml/Kg) significantly increases total leukocytes count (1000±73 vs. 700±36 cell/μL), lymphocyte count (868±63 vs. 580±40 cell/μL), spleen index (1.60±0.11 vs. 1.25±0.025 mg/gm), bone marrow cells viability (50.17±5.36 vs. 9.5±0.76%) and bone marrow GM‐CSF (14.50±1.42 vs. 9.18±1.84 ng/l), while non significant change observed in neutrophil count and thymus index. Furthermore, increasing NG oil dose to (2ml/Kg) resulted in further improvement, were we reported a significant increase in total leukocytes count (1267±352 vs. 700±36 cell/μL), neutrophil count (279.67±90 vs. 95.5±8.4 cell/μL), lymphocyte count (1047±298 vs. 580±40 cell/μL), spleen index (2.35±0.49 vs. 1.25±0.025 mg/gm), thymus index (1.62±0.31 vs. 0.79±0.13 mg/gm), bone marrow cells viability (67.67±5.49 vs. 9.5±0.76%), and bone marrow GM‐CSF (16.18±1.50 vs. 9.18±1.84 ng/l). Bone marrow H&E histopathological sections confirm the myeloprotective effects of NG oil. In conclusion, we showed that NG oil has a promising strong myeoprotective and immunomodulatory effects against cyclophosphamide‐induced myelosuppression.Support or Funding InformationFunding: University of Baghdad