Protective effect of N-acetylcysteine against carmustine-induced myelotoxicity in rats

Carmustine (BCNU) is used to treat a variety of tumors, in particular gliomas. However, the success of such treatment is limited by severe myelosuppression. The role of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) in protection against BCNU-induced myelotoxicity is still needed to be explored. The aim of this work is to study the possible protective role of NAC against BCNU-induced myelotoxicity through evaluation of apoptosis, lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase(CAT)) as well as glutathione (GSH) content in bone marrow cells of rats. Administration of BCNU in a single dose (30 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly decreased RBCs, WBCs and platelets counts as well as hemoglobin level. In addition, BCNU produced a significant apoptotic effect as well as a significant lipid peroxidation in bone marrow cells. Pretreatment of animals with NAC (150 mg/kg, i.p.) daily for 5 days significantly ameliorated the changes in oxidant and antioxidant parameters as well as apoptosis induced by BCNU. In addition the pattern of blood parameters was shifted markedly to normal values in animals pretreated with NAC when compared to BCNU-treated group. Conclusively, NAC could have a potential protective effect against BCNU-induced myelotoxicity; an effect that is mainly attributed to the antioxidant property.