Effects of simvastatin on the recovery of hematopoiesis in acute irradiation injured mice HE Guan-qiang,

Objective To investigate the effect of simvastatin on hematopoiesis in acute irradiation injured mice.Method Sixty-six Kunming mice were randomly divided into 3 groups as normal group,control group and simvastatin group.Control group and simvastatin group were administrated 0.9% saline and simvastatin(16 mg/kg,1 time each day),respectively after 6.0 Gy 60 Co γ-rays.The effects were observed at 3rd,7th,10th and 14th day after irradiation by evaluating blood cells,bone marrow nucleated cells,the percentage of CD34 + cells and hematopoietic tissue area.The colony forming units of spleen(CFU-S)at 10th day and bone trabecula at 28 day were calculated.Result The peripheral leukocytes,platelets,the bone marrow mononuclear ceils(BMNC)counts,and the percentage of CD34 + cells in the bone marrow at each tested time were increased significantly after simvastatin treatment(P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).The number of bone trabecula at 28th day and CFU-S counts at 10th day in simvastain group were also increased significantly.Conclusions Simvastatin could accelerate the early phase of hematopeietic recovery in irradiation injured mice by increasing the number of bone trabecula,osteoblasts and CD34 + cells in bone marrow. Key words: Simvastatin; Osteoblast; Irradiation injury; Bone marrow; Hematopoietic recovery