SCREENING OF POLYHERBAL PLANT EXTRACTS AGAINST CARBOPLATIN INDUCED THROMBOCYTOPENIA IN MICE

Thrombocytopenia, a condition in which platelet count decreases (<150-450 × 10⁹/L), occurs as a result of clinical conditions such as viral infections or cancer or as a side effect of chemotherapy or it can be inherited, but if not treated on time it can be life threaten-ing. So, here we have evaluated the anti-thrombocytopenic potential of three plant extracts (aqueous extracts of Carica papaya and Azadirachta indica, methanolic extract of Andrographis paniculata) individually and their equal, unequal, half, and double proportionate combinations against carboplatin induced thrombocytopenia in mice. Thrombocytopenia has been induced successfully in all the treatment groups as well as in the disease control group, followed by a single intraperitoneal injection of carboplatin at the dose of 125 mg/kg of body weight. The extent of thrombocytopenia was the highest on day 7. Platelet count was significantly low in the disease control group (p<0.0001) compared to all other groups starting from day 7 to the end. All groups have responded to their respective treatment and have shown an increase in platelet count gradually with maximum effect on day 21, even more than the count on day 1. Our findings were further supported by bleeding time and clotting time. Both of these parameters remain almost unchanged in the normal control group but have been significantly prolonged (p<0.0001) in the disease control group, indicating an effect of fall in platelet count. When compared to the disease control group, all treatment groups have significantly less bleeding time (p<0.0001) and clotting time (p<0.0001).