Ocimum flavone Orientin as a countermeasure for thrombocytopenia

Thrombocytopenia or chronic depletion of platelets in blood, could create life-threatening conditions in patients who receive aggressive systemic radiation and chemotherapy. Currently there are no approved agents for the rapid treatment of thrombocytopenia. In the present study, we demonstrate that administration of Orientin, a glycosidic flavonoid or dietary administration of Orientin containing Tulsi (Holy Basil) leaves, results in a significant increase in circulating platelets in a clinically relevant mouse model. No noticeable effects were observed on red blood cells, white blood cells or other hematologic parameters in treated animals indicating that Orientin specificity enhances platelet formation. The gene expression and immunophenotyping of bone marrow revealed that Orientin stimulates megakaryopoiesis specific transcriptional program. A significant increase in colony formation in bone marrow cells from Orientin pretreated mice further complemented the effect of Orientin on progenitor cells. The ex-vivo differentiation of irradiated human peripheral blood CD34(+) stem cells demonstrated stimulatory effects of Orientin on megakaryocyte erythrocyte progenitors (MEP). The results show that Orientin, a non-toxic readily available natural product can counter platelet imbalances. Thrombocytopenia also develop as a consequence of multiple hematologic malignancies and side effects of treatments. Dietary supplementation of Orientin containing phytochemicals could be effective as countermeasures and viable therapeutics.