Myelophil, a mixture of Astragali Radix and Salviae Radix extract, moderates toxic side effects of fluorouracil in mice

Figure 1 Fingerprinting of Myelophil. A: Rosmarinic acid (RMA, 2 &mgr;g), Salviae Radix water extract (SRE, 200 &mgr;g) and Myelophil (MP, 400 &mgr;g) were separated using chloroform/ethyl acetate/benzene/formic acid/methanol (15:10:10:10:1), and then visualized by white light after derivatization with p-anisaldehyde sulfuric acid; B: Formononetin (FMN, 0.1 &mgr;g), Astragali Radix water extract (ARE, 0.8 mg) and Myelophil (MP, 1.6 mg) were separated using dichloromethane/methanol/water (45:10:1), and then visualized under UV at 366 nm.

Figure 2 Histopathological analysis of bone marrow. After 7 d 5-FU injection (0.3 g/kg, intraperitoneally) and Myelophil treatment for 5 d, the femoral bone was dissected and fixed in 10% neutral-buffered formalin, followed by decalcification, embedding, and micro-sectioning (4 &mgr;m). Histopathological examination was performed under a microscope (× 200) after HE staining.

Figure 3 Colony-forming assay and IL-3 gene expression. A: After 7 d 5-FU injection (0.2 g/kg, intraperitoneally) and Myelophil treatment for 5 d, purified bone marrow cells were cultured for 7 d for colony counts of CFU-GM and CFU-E; B: Spleen cells were treated with Myelophil for 18 h, and then IL-3 gene expression was analyzed using real-time-PCR. Data are expressed as mean ± SD (n = 3). ^bP < 0.01 vs control group.

Figure 4 Survival of myelosuppressed mice. A: Beginning 2 d after 5-FU injection (0.5 g/kg, intraperitoneally), Myelophil (0.05 or 0.1 g/kg) or distilled water (control) was administered for 10 d. The number of surviving mice was monitored for 20 experimental days; B: Beginning 2 d after 5-FU injection (0.3 g/kg, intraperitoneally), Myelophil (0.05 or 0.1 g/kg) or distilled water (for naïve and control groups) was administered orally for 5 d. All mice were then forced to swim in a pool to monitor their survival time for 30 min.