Treatment of Korean Panax Ginseng against Cisplatin-Induced Toxicity in Rats Haematological and Histological Examination of Liver, Spleen and Kidney

Abstract

Vital goal of all anti-cancer therapies are to prevent the incidence of side effects either through more selective therapeutic methodology that target only neoplastic cells or through the use of complementary or alternative medicine. Present study investigated the effects of Panax ginseng (PG) on cisplatin-induced haematological and histopathological (liver, kidney and spleen) changes in rats. Rats were administered with PG (25, 50, 100 mg/kg) before or after an intraperitoneal injection of cisplatin (6 mg/kg). Total white blood cells (WBC), absolute neutrophil, lymphocytes and platelets on day 5 were examined. Histopathology of liver, kidney and spleen were additionally assessed. Post-treatment with PG (100 mg/kg) significantly attenuated cisplatin-induced decrease in platelets. However, cisplatin-induced changes in WBC, absolute neutrophil and lymphocytes were not significantly improved. Cisplatin-induced histopathological changes like liver sinusoidal dilatation, inflammatory infiltration, renal glomerulus damage and changes in white and red pulp of spleen were not augmented by PG. PG improves the resistance of rats against cisplatin-induced haematological or histopathological changes but toxicity was not improved in rats.

Keywords: Chemotherapy, cisplatin, toxicity, ginseng, haematology, histology