Cancer Chemopreventive and Antimutagenic Potential of Certain Plants

The present work deals with the toxicity, cancer chemopreventive, antioxidant and antimutagenic potential of alcoholic extracts of five plants namely, Aegle marmelos, Mentha piperita, Moringa oleifera, Pongamia pinnata and Sida acuta against uterine cervix carcinoma in Swiss albino mouse model. Acute toxicity testing was carried out as per OECD guidelines. Murphy's string method was followed for cervical tumor induction wherein 3-Methylcholantherene was used as the positive carcinogen. 90 days after the administration of the carcinogen, animals were examined for the development of pre cancerous and cancerous lesions. Antioxidant status of the animals was assessed by estimating the levels of hepatic antioxidant molecules viz., Superoxide dismutase, glutathione-S-Transferase and Reduced glutathione. For studying the antimutagenic effects of the test plants bone marrow chromosomal aberration assay and Micronucleus assay were employed.