Effects of ligustrazine on expression of bone marrow heparan sulfates in syngeneic bone marrow transplantation mice

Summary

To explore the effects of ligustrazine on bone marrow heparan sulfates (HS) expression in bone marrow transplantation (BMT) mice, the syngeneic BMT mice were orally given 2 mg ligustrazine twice a day. On the 7th, 10th, 14th, 18th day after BMT, peripheral blood cells and bone marrow nuclear cells (BMNC) were counted, and the expression levels of HS in bone marrow and on the stromal cell surfaces were detected by immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry assay respectively. In ligustrazine-treated group, the white blood cells (WBC) and BMNC on the 7th, 10th, 14th, 18th day and platelets (PLT) on the 7th, 10th day were all significantly more than those in control group (P<0.05). The bone marrow HS expression levels in ligustrazine-treated group were higher than those in control group (P<0.05) on the 7th, 10th, 14th, 18th day. However, the HS expression levels on the stromal cell surfaces showed no significant difference between the two groups on the 18th day (P>0.05). It was concluded that ligustrazine could up-regulate HS expression in bone marrow, which might be one of the mechanisms contributing to ligustrazine promoting hematopoietic reconstitution after BMT.