Sabera Sultana Rehman and R Bharali
Keywords: DMBA, papillomagenesis, Eclipta alba, histopathology.
Abstract: Chemoprevention using readily accessible natural substances from vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices is presently considered as one of the most noteworthy strategies for cancer prevention. The herb, Eclipta alba Linn (Family: Compositae) found commonly in moist places all over India is traditionally used as a tonic and deobstruent in hepatic and spleen enlargements .It has also got anti- inflammatory effect and may be applied to insect bites, stings, swellings and other skin diseases. The present investigation was undertaken to explore the anti tumor promoting activity of Eclipta alba on two stage skin carcinogenesis, induced by a single topical application of 7, 12 Dimethyl benz (a) anthracene (50?g/ 50?l of acetone) and two weeks later, promoted by repeated application of croton oil (1% in acetone for 3 times a week) till the end of the experiment (15 weeks). Topical application of the hydro alcoholic extract of the herb, Eclipta alba for 15 weeks at the pre, peri and post initiational stages on the shaven backs of Swiss albino mice was found to be effective in decreasing the tumor incidence (90, 77.77 and 66.6% respectively) in comparison to the control (100%). The cumulative number of papillomas, tumor yield and tumor burden were also found to be reduced significantly in E. alba treated mice. The histo-pathology of the affected skin tissue also indicated a significant reduction in the tumor size and slow growth of the tumors in the treated groups in comparison to the control. The results thus suggest a possible chemopreventive property of E. alba against DMBA induced skin papillomagenesis.
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