Research on Xijiao Dihuang Decoction suppressing platelet apoptosis in immunemediated aplastic anemia based on mitochondrial mediated pathway

The aplastic anemia mice model was established in this study. BALB/c mice shall be treated with whole body irradiation with 60 Co- γ radiation (5.5Gy, 1.1Gy/min × 5 min). then within 4 h, DBA/2 mice were injected lymphocyte suspension 1 × 10^6 cells /mouse through caudal vein. Grouping of testing animals: Normal control mice were healthy C57BL/6 mice without AA modeling. AA control group mice were exposed to radiation and cell transfusion and had no treatment with either CSA or XDD. CSA group mice received daily lavage with 0.027g/kg (0.1ml/10g) of CSA whereas XDD group mice received daily lavage with 19.5g/kg of XDD. The experimental result indicated CSA and XDD lavage mice had significantly higher platelet count and ΔΨm than AA mice (P 0.05). Levels of Cyt C, PS and Ca^2+ were significantly lower in CSA and XDD groups compare with AA group. More specifically, compared to CSA group, XDD group also had lower level of ΔΨm and higher level of Cyt C and Ca^2+ (both P 0.05). Both CSA and XDD treatment reduced Bak and Bax levels significantly compared to AA mice. However, XDD treatment still showed higher expressions than CSA (P 0.05). CSA and XDD treatment increased the levels of Pro-apoptotic protein expressions ( caspase-8, caspase-3, caspase-9). XDD showed less potent effect than CSA in increasing these protein expressions (all P 0.05). Therefore, we hypothesized XDD was possible to increase platelet number and prevent its apoptosis in immune-induced AA via the mitochondrial pathway.