Myeloprotection with activated carbon in doxorubicin-treated rats.

Chemotherapy can often cause a variety of side effects including bone marrow (BM) suppression, termed as myelosuppression. Accordingly, facile and effective management of chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression is currently a pivotal task for experimental pathologists and oncologists. Here, we chose to use activated carbon (AC) with an extensive surface area for studying its possible protective effectiveness with respect to BM in doxorubicin (DOX)-treated rats. Spherical AC with an extended surface area up to 4490 m2/g was prepared for per os (p/o) delivery, whereas for intraperitoneal (i/p) delivery we used the powdered form of AC that was derived from the aforementioned spherical AC. During the monthly treatment of animals with AC and DOX these two components were delivered alternately (not in the same day). After treatment, BM cells were isolated from femurs of sacrificed animals, stained with acridine orange (AO) and analyzed by flow cytometry. Regardless of the route of AC delivery (p/o or i/p), apparent myeloprotection with a possible regenerative effect was observed in animals that received DOX, as evidenced by recovery of the populations of total nucleated cells (TNC) and polychromatic (immature) erythrocytes accompanied by a considerable reduction of the number of apoptotic/dead cells among TNC (≤2.0%). Moreover, as a result of AC administrations, there was a significant increase of AO green and far-red fluorescence intensities in the population of TNC, which is suggestive of the ongoing quantitative and conformational changes in DNA and RNA associated with cell recovery and proliferation. Thus, AC preparations under the present experimental conditions can effectively tackle DOX-induced myelosuppression via mechanisms not necessarily associated with adsorptive detoxification.

Densitometry of the optically magnified dried residues representing carbon microparticles as a simple and affordable technique for determining their concentrations in aqueous suspensions.

In extracorporeal blood purification, such as hemoperfusion, activated carbon (activated charcoal) beads are commonly used as an adsorbent, but their judgment in terms of extent of microparticle release is of great importance since the microparticles may represent the risk of entering the bloodstream. To quantitatively assess the release of carbon microparticles (CMPs) in the samples of the aqueous perfusion medium, in which the beads have been perfused, the calibration procedure with different concentrations of CMPs is likely to be needed. For this purpose, carbon beads were mechanically crushed to a fine powder, whose microparticles (<10 µm) were then serially diluted in the aqueous medium within the wide range of concentrations (0.2-100 µg/ml). To test these concentrations of CMPs, the micro-aliquots of each dilution of suspended CMPs were dried on a surface of hydrophobic membrane and at the optical magnification of 20× the dry residues were than analyzed by measuring the sum of densities. This simple and affordable technique was shown to be considerably more sensitive than spectrophotometry of the aqueous suspensions of CMPs.