الفهرس 
AcknowledgementOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Oral mucositis (OM) is one of the common complications associated with cancer treatment. Several studies have suggested the use of neutraceuticals in conjunction with anti-cancerous agents aiming to reduce such inflammation which in turn, improves the quality of patient’s life.
In the present study, grape seed extract (GSE) and physalis extract (PE), known as potent anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory neutraceuticals, were given to rats that were injected with the anti-cancerous drug Cetuximab (Cmab) to investigate their effect on tongue mucositis induced by the drug.
The current study was designed to be conducted on 60 rats which were equally divided into 6 groups. Four groups were obtained from paraffin blocks of a previously performed study. One group (I) was left without any intervention to rule out the association of any result with the environmental factors. The remaining five groups were injected with anti-cancer drug Cmab. Among these groups taking Cmab drug, there is one group taking Cmab drug only while two groups of them were given GSE but one of them at time of administration of Cmab drug (IIIa) and the other group were given GSE one week ahead of Cmab drug (IIIb). The remaining groups were given PE, one of them simultaneously with Cmab drug (IVa) and the other was given PE one week ahead of Cmab administration (IVb). A ready manufactured GSE was available while PE is prepared in national research center lab from fresh fruits collected from Egyptian farms.
Then, euthanasia of all groups of rats was done on the 16th day from the start of Cmab drug infusion. Biopsies were dissected from rats and prepared for histological examination. Changes in number of filiform papillae and also the number of mast cells detected by anti-mast cell tryptase antibody were assessed.
Furthermore, apoptosis was also evaluated via measuring the area percent of immunohistochemical expression of bax and bcl2 in sections of tongue mucosa of rats in all groups and then calculating bax/bcl2 ratio. Bcl-2 is an antiapoptotic protein while bax is a proapoptotic protein and high ratio of bax/ bcl-2 is considered an indicator for enhancement of apoptosis as reported before in many studies done to test the effect of anti-cancerous treatment.
According to our results, tongue mucosa of rats in groups II (taking Cmab only) showed loss of the majority of filiform papillae and atrophy of the rest, separation and atrophy of muscles and severe inflammatory cell infiltrate. A significant increase in the number of mast cells and in the area percent of the bax/bcl2 ratio were seen in this group, compared to all other groups.
In contrast, groups III & IV (taking GSE or PE in parallel with Cmab or one week ahead before Cmab drug) had significant decrease in atrophy and loss of filiform papillae compared to group II. Slight better results found in groups IV (taking PE) than group III (taking GSE).