Ganoderma spore lipid protects mouse bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and hematopoiesis from the cytotoxicity of the chemotherapeutic agent

Abstract Cancer chemotherapeutic agents are frequently toxic to bone marrow and impair bone marrow functions. It is unclear whether ganoderma spore lipid (GSL) can protect bone marrow cells from the cytotoxicity of chemotherapy. To investigate the protective effects of GSL on bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and hematopoiesis, we examined the effects of GSL on MSCs in vitro and hematopoiesis in vivo after treatment with the chemotherapeutic agent cyclophosphamide. MSCs and peripheral blood cells were isolated and counted from the bone marrow of normal mice were pre‐treated with GSL before CTX treatment or co‐treated with GSL and CTX, followed by examining the changes in phenotype, morphology, proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation potentials. The results showed that GSL could reduce the CTX‐induced changes in the phenotype of MSCs and maintain the elongated fibroblast‐like morphology. MTT and annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) analyses found that GSL pre‐treatment and co‐treatment increased the proliferation and decreased the apoptosis in CTX‐treated MSCs. Furthermore, GSL improved the osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation potentials of CTX‐treated MSCs. In vivo, GSL treatment increased the number of peripheral blood cells including white blood cells (WBC) and platelets (PLT) in the CTX‐treated mice and enhanced the in vitro formation of hematopoietic lineage colonies (erythrocyte colony forming unit, CFU‐E; erythroid burst‐forming units, BFU‐E; and granulocyte macrophage colony‐forming units, CFU‐GM) from bone marrow cells in these mice. These findings suggest GSL could protect MSCs and hematopoiesis from the cytotoxicity of CTX and might become an effective adjuvant to attenuate side effects of chemotherapy during cancer treatment.