Lesion scoring and P450 Isoenzyme activity in liver of hepatocarcinogenesis rats treated with Strobilanthes crispus

In this study, we have undertaken efforts to ascertain the anticancer potency of s.crispus (sc) extract on diethylnitrosamine (den) and acetylaminofluorene (aaf) inducedhcc with special attention to hepatic drug metabolism and to investigate the effect of sc onpreneoplastic marker enzyme activity specifically of microsomal aniline hydroxylase (ah)activity and lesion scoring in rats treated with den and aaf and controls.materials and methods : thirty male sprague dawley rats were divided to six equal numbergroups. in the first three groups, hepatocellular carcinoma was induced with diethylnitrosamineand acetylaminofluorene. three groups in each branch were randomly assigned to receive5% w/v of sc extract, glycyrrhizin or no treatment. after 12 weeks of treatment, the rats weresacrificed. lesion scoring analysis and aniline hydroxylase assays were performed asoutcome measures.results : the obtained results have shown a significant, increase (p<0.05) of liver microsomeah in cancer group rats after 12 weeks. treatment with glycyrrhizin caused decrease in liverah activity compared to control group. meanwhile, treatment with sc caused overall decreasein liver ah activity almost near to control group. meanwhile, microscopic observation of thelesion score during hepatocarcinogenesis revealed that cells of cancer group without treatmentwere severely necrotic at week 12. s. crispus treatment reduced the severity in cancer grouprats at week 12.conclusion : s. crispus only ameliorated the cancer incidence in the liver, however did notfully recover the liver tumor similar to the normal cells. this might be due to short experimentalduration. the chemopreventive action may be due to the scavenging of the reactive oxygenradicals from the system, as well as inhibition of the enzymes responsible for the activation ofden. in this study, sc extract may act as a chemopreventive agent which exerts its protectiveeffects by inhibition of enzymes involved in metabolic activation of carcinogen (phase i enzymei.e anh)