Abstract:Objective To reveal the effects of lienal polypeptide injection on thrombocytopenia induced by chemotherapy and the mechanism of thrombopoiesis.Methods A total of 85 healthy Kunming mice were randomly divided into normal group, model group, positive control (recombinant human thrombopoietin, rhTPO) group, and low-dose and high-dose lienal polypeptide group. The normal group was injected with normal saline, and the other groups were given a single dose of 70 mg/kg carboplatin via intraperitoneal injection to establish the chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia model. From the following day, different groups of mice were treated with corresponding drugs for 15 consecutive days. The blood was taken from the tail vein to determine the platelet count before chemotherapy and every other day from the 2nd to 16th day after chemotherapy. On the 8th day after chemotherapy, bone marrow megakaryocytes were observed and counted under the Wright-Giemsa stain. The percentages of megakaryocytes were detected by flow cytometry. The serum levels of stem cell factor (SCF) and thrombopoietin (TPO) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results The platelet count of female mice in each group before chemotherapy and 2 d, 4 d, 6 d, 8 d, 10 d, 12 d, 14 d, and 16 d after chemotherapy was compared and analyzed via the repeated measures ANOVA. The results demonstrated that there were differences in platelet count at different time points (F = 22.413, P = 0.000) and among the groups (F = 6.822, P = 0.006), and that there were differences in the change trends of platelet count among the groups (F = 6.326, P = 0.008). Under the microscope, megakaryocytes have larger nuclei and the size of megakaryocytes was greater than other cells. As megakaryocytes became mature, most of the nuclei were irregular in shape, and the cytoplasm was abundant. After staining, the dark purple part characterized the nucleus and the light purple part characterized the cytoplasm. The number and percentage of bone marrow megakaryocytes in the model group were lower than those of the normal group (P <0.05), and those in the positive control group and high-dose lienal polypeptide group were both higher compared with the model group (P < 0.05). The levels of SCF and rhTPO in the model group were higher than those in the normal group (P < 0.05), and the level of SCF in the high-dose lienal polypeptide group was lower than that in the model group (P < 0.05). Besides, the level of rhTPO in the positive control group was lower than that in the model group (P < 0.05).Conclusions Lienal polypeptide injection at a dose of 60 mg/(kg·d) is effective for ameliorating the thrombocytopenia induced by carboplatin chemotherapy in female mice, which may be related to the normalization of the serum level of SCF and the up-regulation of bone marrow megakaryocytes.