Watermelon Reduces the Toxicity of Cisplatin Treatment in C57BL/6 Mice with Induced Melanoma

Abstract

An alternative to reduce the undesirable effects of antineoplastic agents has been the combination of classical treatments with nutritional strategies aimed at reducing systemic toxicity without decreasing the antitumor activity of already used drugs. Within this context, this study evaluated the possible reduction of toxicity when cisplatin treatment is combined with watermelon pulp juice supplementation in C57BL/6 mice with melanoma. Watermelon is a fruit rich in vitamins, minerals, proteins, lycopene, carotene, and xanthophylls, which has shown effectiveness in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, weight loss, urinary infections, gout, hypertension, and mutagenicity. The following parameters were analyzed: animal survival, bone marrow genotoxicity, serum creatinine and urea, histopathological features of the tumor tissue, tumor weight and volume, and weight of non-tumor tissues (kidney, liver, spleen, heart, and lung). The results showed that watermelon had no antitumor effect but reduced the toxicity of cisplatin, as demonstrated by an increase in the number of bone marrow cells and a decrease in serum creatinine and urea levels. The data suggest that watermelon pulp juice can be an alternative for reducing the side effects of antineoplastic agents.

Keywords:

• Citrullus lanatus
• genotoxicity
• toxicity
• creatinine
• urea
• histopathology

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Ciêntífico e Tecnológico (CNPq), the Mutagenesis Laboratory and Nutrition Course of the Universidade de Franca.

Authors’ Contributions

R.C.R.C. is a lead author, F.R.N., R.A.F., L.M.S., F.D.S., S.D.O., and G.M.M. collaborated with the biological experimental part, J.K.B. guided the chemical experimental part, D.C.T. was the co-supervisor and P.F.O was the supervisor.

Disclosure Statement

There is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Brazil; grant # 2016/24269-7).