title: Sustained zidovudine treatment on hematopoiesis in immunodeficient mice.
abstract: Zidovudine (AZT) has been the drug of choice in the treatment of human AIDS; however, associated with the use of zidovudine has been the development of hematopoietic toxicity, the mechanism of which is not clearly defined. We report here studies designed to evaluate dose-escalation of zidovudine, i.e. 0.1 and 1.0 mg/ml placed in the drinking water on hematopoiesis in C57BL/6 normal and LP-BM5 immunodeficiency virus-infected mice. Over a 6-week evaluation period, compared to normal, non-virus-infected controls, murine immunodeficiency (MAIDS) infection was associated with reduced hematopoietic progenitors, i.e. CFU-E, BFU-E, CFU-GM, and CFU-Meg from bone marrow and spleen. Following zidovudine treatment, further suppression of marrow-derived progenitors was observed, while increased numbers of progenitors were obtained from the spleen. Spleen-derived erythroid progenitors, i.e. CFU-E, were increased by 950% (P < 0.001) from MAIDS-infected animals receiving 1.0 mg/ml of drug following 4-weeks exposure compared to non-drug-treated MAIDS control animals. Splenic BFU-E were increased 654% following 6-weeks exposure compared to non-drug-treated MAIDS-infected mice. This study suggests that the bone marrow is particularly sensitive to zidovudine toxicity which, at least early in exposure, appears to be compensated by splenic-derived hematopoiesis, in particular, erythropoiesis. Overt toxicity develops when, at least in this immunodeficiency model, the spleen is unable to provide progenitors in response to continued zidovudine exposure in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Administration Medical Center, Lexington, KY 40536-0084.
authors.forename: V S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Gallicchio
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: K F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Tse
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D006410:Hematopoiesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016183:Murine Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015215:Zidovudine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D015215:Zidovudine