Methanolic Extract of Curcuma caesia Roxb. Prevents the Toxicity Caused by Cyclophosphamide to Bone Marrow Cells, Liver and Kidney of Mice

INTRODUCTION: With an ever increasing cause of cancer, it has been recommended to treat with conventional drugs, however because of the side effects caused by the conventional drugs, the research on medicinal plants has been intensified due to their less adverse and toxic effects. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of the present study was to evaluate the protective effect of the medicinal plant Curcuma caesia Roxb. against free radicals ABTS(+) and O(2)(-). Also it was aimed to evaluate the protective effect of C.caesia Roxb. against the chemotherapeutic drug Cyclophosphamide and its side effects in liver and kidney. METHODS: The rhizomes of the plant was extracted with methanol through soxhlet and its antioxidant activity was tested against ABTS(+) and O(2)(-). For antigenotoxic studies, animals were divided into eight groups and micronucleus assay was employed and for biochemical analysis serum sample was collected from the blood and SGOT, SGPT analysis was performed. Also the biochemical analysis was performed from both the liver and kidney. RESULTS: The methanolic extract of Curcuma caesia Roxb. was found to scavenge the free radicals ABTS(+) and O(2)(-). the micronuclei formation was found to be increased in the positive control group as compared to the negative control group significantly (P<0.002) however increase in the number of micronuclei was found to be decrease with the pretreatment of the extract at different concentrations significantly as compared to the negative control groups (P<0.01, P<0.005, P<0.001). The increased level of serum SGPT and SGOT as well as peroxidation level in both liver and kidney due to treatment of cyclophosphamide was also found to be decreased with the pretreatment of the extract significantly as compared to the positive control groups. There was decreased in the level of endogenous antioxidant such as GSH and GR in the positive control group however decreased level of GSH and GR was found to be increased with the pretreatment of the methanolic extract of C. caesia Roxb. CONCLUSION: The present study suggested that the methanolic extract of C. caesia Roxb has not shown any genotoxicity and reduces the genotoxicity caused by cyclophosphamide. It was also to have the protective effects against the liver and kidney. So it could be provided as one of the herbal supplementation in chemoprevention of CP to ameliorate the side effects of it. SUMMARY: Cancer is characterized by uncontrolled growth of cells and much research has been done for the past several years from various disciplines for the treatment of cancer but till now no therapy has been discovered. Treatment of cancer with chemotherapeutic drugs has been suggested to prevent cancer cells however they are often limited with their toxicity to normal cells. Therefore it has been suggested that the supplementation of medicinal plants which are rich source of antioxidants can decrease the toxic effect caused by chemotherapeutic drugs. Curcuma caesia Roxb is a medicinal plant which has high antioxidant activity, as per present study, methanolic extract of Curcuma caesia Roxb prevents the toxicity caused by cyclophosphosphamide (chemotherapeutic drug) in bone marrow cells by reducing the micronuclei formation; it also prevents the hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity caused by cyclophosphamide, so it can be used as a supplement in cancer treatment with cyclophosphamide. [Image: see text]