Protective effect of berberine on cyclophosphamide-induced haemorrhagic cystitis in rats

The urotoxicity of cyclophosphamide and the protective effect of the herb b erberine were investigated in this study Administration of 150 mg/kg cyclop hosphamide intraperitoneally caused a serious haemorrhagic cystitis in rats after 12 hr, including bladder oedema, haemorrhage, and dramatic elevation of nitric oxide metabolites (nitrite+nitrate) in urine and in plasma. To e xplore whether cyclophosphamide-induced cystitis could be prevented by berb erine, rats were pretreated with a single dose or two doses of berberine at 50, l00, or 200 mg/kg intraperitoneally then challenged with cyclophospham ide (150 mg/kg, intraperitoneally). The results indicated that pretreatment of rats with berberine could reduce cyclophosphamide-induced cystitis in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, we found that two doses of berberine s howed greater protection against cyclophosphamide urotoxicity than when giv en a single dose. In addition, our data shows that a single dose of 200 mg/ kg berberine, or two doses of 100, and 200 mg/kg berberine could completely block cyclophosphamide-induced bladder oedema and haemorrhage as well as n itric oxide metabolites increase in rat urine and plasma. In conclusion, ou r findings suggest that berberine could be a potential effective drug in th e treatment of cyclophosphamide-induced cystitis, and provides us with the bright hope in the prevention and treatment of cyclophosphamide urotoxicity .