Chemopreventive action of <i>Phyllanthus urinaria </i>Linn<b> </b>on DMBA-induced skin <span style="font-size:14.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#272727;mso-ansi-language:EN-IN; mso-fareast-language:EN-IN;mso-bidi-language:HI" lang="EN-IN">carcinogenesis in mice</span>

Abstract

The inhibition of tumor incidence by hydro-alcoholic extract of the whole plant of <i><i>P. </i><i>urinaria</i><i></i> </i>was evaluated in 6-7 weeks old female albino mice on two-stage process of skin carcinogenesis induced by a single application of 7, 12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (50 μ g/50μl of acetone),and 2 weeks later, promoted by repeated application of croton oil(1% in acetone/ three times a week) till the end of the experiment(15weeks), Topical application of the extract at a dose of <i>5mg</i><i>/</i>kg body weight/ day for 15 weeks at the peri -initiational stagc ( i.e., 7 days before and 7 days after DMBA application),promotional stage (i.e., from the time of croton oil application) and both peri and post-initiational stages ( i.e., 7 days prior toDMBA application and continued till the end of the experiment) on the shaven backs of the mice recorded a significant reduction in tumor incidence to 50,33.3 and 16.7% respectively in comparison to the control ( i.e., the mice treated with DMBA and croton oil only) where tumor incidence was found to be 81.8%. The average number of papillomas per mouse was also significantly reduced. The results suggest a possible chemopreventive property of <i>P.<i>urin</i><i>aria</i><i></i> </i>against DMBA-induced skin papillomagenesis in mice.