ASES VAN INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH CONFERENCE, Van, Turkey, 22 - 24 September 2023, pp.1
Bleomycin (BLM) is an antineoplastic agent and is used in the treatment protocol of many
cancer types. This study investigated the effects of alpha lipoic acid (ALA) on hemogram
parameters in bleomycin-treated rats. Thirty-two-month-old adult Wistar albino female rats
were randomly divided into 4 groups Control (CONT), Bleomycin (BLEO), ALA, and BLEO
+ALA (Treatment). The CONT group (n=7) received 0.1 ml/day intramuscular saline on days
1, 8, and 15, and the BLEO group (n=8) received 30 mg/m 2 /day intramuscular BLEO on the
same days. A single dose of 50 mg/kg/day of ALA was administered subcutaneously for two
weeks to the ALA group (n=7) and following BLEO injections, the Treatment group (n=8)
received a single dose of 50 mg/kg/day of ALA administered subcutaneously for two weeks.
At the end of the experiment, the thorax cavity of the rats was opened under anesthesia, and
blood samples (approximately 2 cc) from the heart's left ventricle were transferred to
anticoagulant tubes. After serum and plasma were obtained from the blood samples taken to
evaluate hematological parameters, blood samples from all groups were analyzed with an
automatic hematology analyzer. GraphPad Prism v9.01 (GraphPad, USA) software program
was used for statistical evaluations and graphs of the results. Significance levels for all data
are indicated as P ≤ 0.05 *, P ≤ 0.01 **, P ≤ 0.001 *** and P ≤ 0.0001 ****. Data are
presented as mean ± SEM (standard error of the mean). In the results obtained, the White
Blood Cell (WBC) count in the BLEO group was significantly lower than in the Treatment
group, and significantly higher in the Treatment group than in the other groups. It was
determined that there was a significant increase in hemoglobin (HGB), hematocrit (HCT), and
Red Blood Cell (RBC) values in the BLEO group compared to the CONT group. Our results
showed that alpha lipoic acid may have a potential curative and protective effect on the toxic
effect of bleomycin on white blood cells. This study points out the importance of monitoring
hematological parameters at regular intervals
Key Words: Alpha Lipoic Acid, Bleomycin, Hematological Parameters, Chemotherapeutic agent