POSSIBLE ADVERSE EFFECTS OF ONCE-DAILY ORAL THERAPEUTIC DOSE OF EITHER GLUCOSAMINE SULFATE OR GLUCOSAMINE/CHONDROITIN SULFATE ON BLOOD CELLS COUNT IN RATS

This study was designed to investigate the possible adverse effects that may be induced by once-daily therapeutic doses of either glucosamine sulfate or glucosamine/chondroitin sulfate administered orally to rats for 30 days on blood cells (RBCs, WBCs and platelets) counts.Forty three white healthy adult Albino rats of both sexes were selected randomly for this study.They were divided into three groups (І, ІІ, ІІІ).Group І received 0.05 ml distilled water, group ІІ received once daily therapeutic dose of glucosamine sulphate and group ІІІ received once daily therapeutic dose of glucosamine sulphate/chondroitin sulphate orally.The treatment period was for 30 days.At day 31, the animals were subjected to light ether anaesthesia and blood was withdrawn from the eye by retro-orbital puncture for the estimation of blood cells (RBCs, WBCs and platelets) count.Treatment with single daily therapeutic dose of either GS alone or GS/CS for 30 days on blood cells count in rats produced a non significant change in RBCs counts compared to control and to each other.There were no statistically significant differences in total WBCs count at day 31 in animals administered once daily therapeutic dose of either GS or GS/CS orally compared to control group.In contrast, there was a statistically significant elevation in total WBCs count in GS/CStreated rats compared to that in the GS-treated rats.The results of this study also showed that there was statistically significant decrease in neutrophils percentage in both drug treatment groups compared to control group.A statistically significant reduction in the percentage of monocytes was observed in GS/CS group compared to the corresponding percentage in animals of control group; while, there were non-significant differences in the percentage of monocytes in GS treated rats compared to that in the control group.There were no significant differences in the percentage of monocytes at day 31 of GS/CS compared to the corresponding percentage in GS-treated rats.There were no statistically significant differences in the percentage of lymphocyte in rats administered once daily therapeutic dose of GS orally at day 31 compared to that in the control group.In contrast, rats orally administered once daily therapeutic dose of GS/CS for 30 days produced a statistically significant elevation in the percent of lymphocytes compared to that in animals of the control group.Moreover, GS/CS produced a statistically significant elevation in the percentage of lymphocytes compared to that in GS-treated rats.Oral administration of once daily therapeutic dose of GS for 30 days produced a statistically significant elevation in platelets count compared to that of controls.In contrast, there were no statistically significant differences in platelets count in rats treated with GS/CS compared to the corresponding count of control animals.Besides, there was a statistically significant elevation in platelets counts in animals administered once daily therapeutic dose of GS at day 31 compared to the corresponding count in GS/CS-treated rats.According to the data obtained from this study, we can conclude that GS alone or GS/CS produced different effects on blood cell counts; where, the increase in lymphocyte percentage seen in GS/CS-treated rats not in GS alone may reflect that CS component may induce lymphocytosis.While, the decreased of either monocytes or neutrophils percentage may be due to their consumption to combat infection in group of animals treated with GS/CS.Finally, the increased platelets count observed in GS-treated group may explain that GS may possess hyper-coagulable property.