Antitumor effects of ethanolic extracts from Sophora moorcroftiana seeds in mice

ABSTRACT

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. 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 tumorbearing mice with S180 sarcoma cell for ten days. The weights of tumor tissue stripped from the left flank, TNF-alpha and IL-2 in blood-serum were tested and analyzed for photochemical composition, using standard procedures. 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 +/- 0.21mg] 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-alpha in serum from the treated mice significantly increased in ethanolic extract-treated groups, compared with the untreated control animals. 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