Research Article Protective Effects of Aqueous Extract of Solanum nigrum Linn. Leaves in Rat Models of Oral Mucositis Alkesh Patel, Subhankar Biswas, Muhammed Haneefa Shoja, Grandhi Venkata Ramalingayya, and K. Nandakumar Department of Pharmacology, Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka 576104, India Correspondence should be addressed to K. Nandakumar; mailnandakumar77@gmail.com Received 3 July 2014; Revised 30 October 2014; Accepted 30 October 2014; Published 20 November 2014 Academic Editor: Tomas Eferth Copyright © 2014 Alkesh Patel et al. Tis 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. Oral mucositis is one of the most debilitating side efects in patient undergoing chemotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. Leaves of the plant Solanum nigrum are used in folklore medicine to treat oral ulcers in India. However, no pharmacological investigation has been carried out till date. Aqueous extract of Solanum nigrum leaves (AESN) was prepared and subjected to various phytochemical screening. HPLC analysis of the ethyl acetate fraction was carried out. Te aqueous extract (100 and 200 mg/kg) was further evaluated for its protective efect on two rat models: (a) busulfan plus infrared radiation (chemoradiotherapy) induced oral mucositis and (b) methotrexate (chemotherapy) induced oral mucositis. Various parameters including body weight change, food intake, and mortality were measured. AESN showed protective efect in both models of oral mucositis; however, the higher dose was more efective in chemotherapy induced oral mucositis. A reduction in oral mucositis score ( < 0.05) was observed in the treatment groups. Signifcant ( < 0.05) improvement in food intake was also observed in AESN treated groups. Aqueous extract of Solanum nigrum leaves has protective efect on chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy induced oral mucositis in rats. 1. Introduction Oral mucositis is a common complication of chemotherapy and radiotherapy to the head and neck region. It is ofen a dose limiting toxicity prohibiting the patient from receiving optimal therapy. Almost every patient with oral cancer treated with chemoradiotherapy develops deep and painful wounds characteristic of this condition [1]. Te chance of oral mucositis occurrence ranges from 30 to 40% in the general cancer patient population [2]. Conversely, there is a chance of developing 76% of oral mucositis in patients undergoing high-dose chemotherapy conditioning before hematopoietic stem cell transplant [3]. Mucositis is the second most frequent dose limiting toxicity in patients receiving chemotherapy [4]. For instance, 40% of patients treated with fuorouracil based regimens and >60% of patients receiving bone marrow transplant conditioning therapies for hematological or solid tumors develop this toxicity [5, 6]. For over a decade, complementary and alternative med- icine (CAM) has been in use by cancer patients in western countries (USA, Canada, Germany, etc.) with prevalence as high as 80% [7, 8]. Among CAM, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is of higher importance, as it is based on a holistic, natural approach and well established theoretical framework. Although CAM has potential in treating various disorders, lack of scientifc data has kept it behind conven- tional therapies. However, recent studies have investigated CAM for their potential in alleviating the toxicity associated with chemotherapy induced mucositis [9]. Here the plant, Solanum nigrum, commonly known as black nightshade, is frequently used as a valuable ingredient for clinical TCM cancer therapy [10]. Chinese people have used the leaves of this plant to alleviate infammation and edema through its antipyretic and diuretic efect [11]. Hepatoprotective activity of this plant is well established [12]. Studies have been conducted providing evidence for the antitumor potential of this plant, including liver, stomach, lung, bladder, breast, and colon cancer [10]. Leaves of this plant have been used as traditional folk medicine by the inhabitants of southern India to treat mouth ulcers. To our knowledge, no study has been conducted to determine the protective efect of this plant for oral mucositis. Terefore, the purpose of this study was aimed Hindawi Publishing Corporation e Scientific World Journal Volume 2014, Article ID 345939, 10 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/345939