IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT STATUS, TOXICOLOGY AND ANTITUMOR ACTIVITY OF ACACIA CAESIA EXTRACT AGAINST DALTON’S ASCITIC LYMPHOMA (DAL) INDUCED TUMOUR MODEL

Abstract

Acacia caesia (L.) Willd., is an armed woody straggling shrub abundantly distributed in the foot hills of the Western Ghats. It is an ethnomedicinal plant used to cure skin, sexual problems, wound, stomach and tooth problems. Different effects of ethanolic extract on Dalton’s Ascitic Lymphoma (DAL) induced tumor inoculation as well as its hematological parameters have been examined for the first time. The acute oral toxicity study was done by using Wistar rats according to OECD guidelines 423 for that the animals were divided into 6 groups of 6 animals each. The anti-tumor activity of the ethanolic leaf extract of Acacia caesia was determined by injecting DAL cell suspension in to the peritoneal cavity of the animals and treatment was started after 24 hours of the tumor inoculation continued once daily for 14 consecutive days nd the efficacy of test sample was compared with that of 5-Fu (Flurouracil) and DAL control. The results of invitro antioxidant status revealed that the highest DPPH radical scavenging potential as indicated by the lowest IC50 concentration was recorded for the ethanol extract (IC5017.80 µg/ml). Also, the same extract exhibited strong TAA equivalent on ABTS●+ (4387.5±169.5 µ mol g-1). The acute toxicity study on test animals at different dose levels showed no significant changes in behavior before and after the administration of an oral dose of test plant extract. Furthertreatment with test extract significantly decreased the development of tumor volume, tumor packed cell volume and percentage increase in body weight when compared to DAL induced tumor control group, also increasing the life span, restoring the total white blood cell count and hemoglobin. The treatment with test extract at doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg normalized the body weight and hematological parameters. The outcome of the present work indicates that Acacia caesia extract could be used as natural anticancer agent for human health.