Protective effects of Acanthopanax senticosus - Ligustrum lucidum combination on bone marrow suppression induced by chemotherapy in mice.

This study investigated the combination effects of the Acanthopanax senticosus - Ligustrum lucidum (AS-LL) herb pair on bone marrow suppression caused by chemotherapy. A bone marrow suppression model was established by intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) of cyclophosphamide (CTX, 100 mg/kg). The changes in chemical composition between the AS-LL decocted together and single were analyzed, and their effects on the bone marrow nucleated cells, peripheral blood, thymus and spleen indices, in vitro hematopoietic cell culture, ELISA and cell cycle were detected. The results showed that the contents of the main active components, such as salidroside, isofraxidin and specnuezhenide in the sample of AS-LL decocted together, increased significantly compared to singles. Moreover, AS-LL decocted together exhibited a significantly better therapeutic effect on myelosuppression induced by CTX than AS and LL alone. AS-LL decocted together significantly increased the number of bone marrow nucleated cells and displayed a good regulatory effect on peripheral blood (p < 0.01), while significantly increased the thymus index (p < 0.01) and decreased the spleen index (p < 0.01). AS-LL significantly promoted the formation of cell colonies (p < 0.05), the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitor cells, and played a positive regulatory role in hematopoietic factors. AS-LL also reduced the proportion of G0/G1 cells, increased the ratio of S and G2/M cells, and increased the cell proliferation index (PI). All these results implied that AS-LL decocted together might be a promising food additives and therapeutic agent for myelosuppression induced by chemotherapy.