Antitumor effects of ethanolic extracts from sophora moorcroftiana seeds in mice

Abstract EN

Background : sophora moorcroftiana (Wallich) is an endemic shrub species in Tibet, China, and is a plant with a great value in folk medicine.

The previous studies had shown that the ethanolic (95%) extracts were much more effective than other extracts from Sophora moorcroftiana seeds on antiproliferative effects, inducing apoptosis in the human stomach cancer SGC-7901 cell line in vitro.

Methods : to investigate the antitumor activity of the ethanolic extracts from sophora moorcroftiana seeds, various doses of ethanolic extracts (200 mg / kg / d, 400 mg / kg / d, 800 mg / Kg / d) were administered via gavage to tumor bearing mice with S 180 sarcoma cell for ten days.

The weights of tumor tissue stripped from the left flank, TNF-α and IL-2 in blood-serum were tested and analyzed for photochemical composition, using standard procedures.

Results : the weight of tumor tissue was significantly decreased upon the treatment with ethanol extracts, but the decrease was more prominent in the group receiving ethanol extracts treatment at 800 mg / kg / d (1.35 ± 0.21 mg) and the inhibition rate on the growth of tumor tissue was higher (28.1 %).

The structural changes of post-treatment in the tumor tissue by the ethanolic extracts at a dose of 800 mg / kg / d showed larger areas of necrosis and more significantly invaded lymphocytes.

IL-2 and TNF-α in serum from the treated mice significantly increased in ethanolic extract-treated groups, compared with the untreated control animals.

Conclusion : this suggested that the ethanolic extracts from sophora moorcroftiana seeds had a weak antitumor role and in high concentration to tumor-bearing mice in vivo, the 95% ethanolic extracts was rather effective.