Effect of Dexamethasone Premedication on Oral Mucositis in Hamster

To determine the protective effect of dexamethasone on the course of an experimental oral mucositis, 75 male adult golden hamsters were randomly divided into five equal groups. The control group received no medication. The other four groups received 5-fluorouracil on days 1-2, one hour after daily injections of either normal saline or dexamethasone in three doses and continued till d9. Along 16 d of experimental period to cover oral mucositis resolution, all animals were blindly subjected to scratching by needle tips over the cheek pouches on d 4 to potentiate oral mucositis. Macroscopic assessments were performed on d 6, 9, 16 and microscopic assessments in sacrificed animals on days 9 and 16 using a valid scoring systems and a blood sampling for microbiological culture in two randomly selected animals from each group (d 9). A significant protective role of dexamethasone was observed at high and moderate doses on the course of oral mucositis development. Our findings showed that in the course of the current chemotherapeutic regimens, premedication of dexamethasone could effectively intervene against development of oral mucositis.