Hindawi Publishing Corporation he Scientiic World Journal Volume 2013, Article ID 694010, 8 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/694010 Research Article The Ethanol Extract of the Inner Bark of Caesalpinia pyramidalis (Tul.) Reduces Urinary Bladder Damage during Cyclophosphamide-Induced Cystitis in Rats Janaína P. Moraes, 1 Denyson S. Pereira, 1 Alexandre S. Matos, 1 Danielle G. Santana, 1 Cliomar A. Santos, 1 Charles S. Estevam, 1 Ricardo Fakhouri, 2 Waldecy de Lucca Junior, 3 and Enilton A. Camargo 1 1 Department of Physiology, Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), 49100-000 S˜ ao Crist´ ov˜ ao, SE, Brazil 2 Department of Medicine, Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), 49060-000 Aracaju, SE, Brazil 3 Department of Morphology, Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), 49100-000 S˜ ao Crist´ ov˜ ao, SE, Brazil Correspondence should be addressed to Enilton A. Camargo; enicamargo@yahoo.com.br Received 11 August 2013; Accepted 29 September 2013 Academic Editors: F. Manzo and S. Mutalik Copyright © 2013 Jana´ ına P. Moraes et al. his is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) is a common side efect of cyclophosphamide therapy, which deserves new therapeutic strategies, such as those based on natural products. he ethanol extract of the inner bark of Caesalpinia pyramidalis (Tul.) (EECp) possesses anti- inlammatory, antinociceptive, and antioxidant activities as previously showed by our group. We have investigated the efect of EECp on the cyclophosphamide-induced HC. Cystitis was induced in male Wistar rats by the injection of cyclophosphamide. hese animals were pretreated with EECp (100–400mg/kg), vehicle, or mesna. Myeloperoxidase activity and malondialdehyde formation were measured in urinary bladder and other tissues. Bladder edema and histopathological alterations and serum nitric oxide metabolites concentration NO  − were also evaluated. Treatment with EECp (100–400 mg/kg) or mesna impaired the increase of myeloperoxidase activity in urinary bladder and the serum NO  − induced by cyclophosphamide but did not reduce edema in this tissue, as did mesna. Total histological score was reduced by EECp (100mg/kg). Lung myeloperoxidase activity, which was increased by cyclophosphamide, was decreased signiicantly by EECp (400 mg/kg). EECp also diminished the malondialdehyde formation in bladder, lung, and spleen, although these parameters were not afected by cyclophosphamide. hese results indicate that EECp reduced urinary bladder damage during cyclophosphamide-induced HC in rats. 1. Introduction he treatment of many neoplasic or nonneoplasic conditions with oxazophorines, mainly cyclophosphamide and ifosfam- ide, leads to hemorrhagic cystitis as an important side efect [1, 2]. Cyclophosphamide is an alkylating agent used, for example, to treat breast cancer, B-cell lymphoma, leukemia, rheumatoid arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosis and in bone marrow transplantation [1, 3, 4]. his compound acts by cross-linking strands of DNA, thus preventing the division of cells, but its hepatic metabolism forms acrolein, between other metabolites, that is recognized for the ulceration, hem- orrhage edema, and necrosis of the urothelium during its excretion by the urine [4, 5]. he treatment of cystitis is usually performed by the use of mesna (2-mercaptoethane sulfonate sodium), which can bind to and inactivate acrolein in the urinary bladder or other parts of urinary tract [2, 6]. Other options to treat hemorrhagic cystitis are desirable and studies in experimental animals have shown that nonsteroidal anti-inlammatory agents, corticos- teroids, or nitric oxide synthase inhibitors may exert protec- tive efects on the urinary tract in cyclophosphamide or ifos- famide-induced cystitis [7–10]. Another opportunity to develop new options to treat cys- titis is the use of natural products. In this regard, many studies have shown that extracts of medicinal plants or compounds isolated from these plants can reduce cystitis induced by oxa- zophorines in rodents. For example, Boeira et al. [11] recently