In vivo effect of platelet factor 4 (PF4) and tetrapeptide AcSDKP on haemopoiesis of mice treated with 5-fluorouracil.

In vivo effects of platelet factor 4 (PF4) and tetrapeptide N-acetyl-Ser-Asp-Lys-Pro (AcSDKP) on haemopoietic progenitors were studied in mice treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). The mice were injected with PF4 (40 micrograms/kg) or AcSDKP (4 micrograms/kg) twice at 6 h intervals, and 20 h after the second injection they were given one injection of 5-FU (150 mg/kg). 6, 8 and 13 d later the high proliferative potential-colony forming cell (HPP-CFC), burst-forming unit erythroid (BFU-E), colony forming unit granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM) colony forming unit megakaryocyte (CFU-MK), and megakaryocytes (MK) were examined. The results showed that the administration of PF4 or AcSKDP resulted in a significant increase in the number of HPP-CFC on days 6-8 and BFU-E and CFU-GM on day 8 when compared to 5-FU alone. Furthermore, PF4 was found to increase significantly the number of CFU-MK and MK on day 8, which was not observed with AcSDKP. However, both molecules had no obvious effect on peripheral blood cells. These data indicate that PF4 or AcSDKP accelerate the recovery in vivo of HPP-CFC, CFU-GM and BFU-E after 5-FU treatment but their effect may be different on megakaryocytic progenitors and suggests that both molecules may have a haemoprotective effect against chemotherapeutic agents.