Anticancer effects of saponin and saponin–phospholipid complex of Panax notoginseng grown in Vietnam

Objective:To evaluate the antitumor activity both in vitro and in vivo of saponin–phospholipid complex of Panax notoginseng.Methods:The in vitro cytotoxic effect of saponins extract and saponin–phospholipid complex against human lung cancer NCI-H460 and breast cancer cell lines BT474 was examined using MTS assay.For in vivo evaluation of antitumor potential,saponin and saponin–phospholipid complex were administered orally in rats induced mammary carcinogenesis by 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene,for 30 days.Results:Our data showed that saponin–phospholipid complex had stronger anticancer effect compared to saponin extract.The IC50 values of saponin–phospholipid complex and saponin extract for NCI-H460 cell lines were 28.47 mg/m L and 47.97 mg/mL,respectively and these values for BT474 cells were 53.18 mg/mL and 86.24 mg/mL,respectively.In vivo experiments,administration of saponin,saponin–phospholipid complex and paclitaxel(positive control) effectively suppressed 7,12-dimethylbenz(a) anthracene-induced breast cancer evidenced by a decrease in tumor volume,the reduction of lipid peroxidation level and increase in the body weight,and elevated the enzymatic antioxidant activities of superoxide dismutase,catalase,glutathione peroxidase in rat breast tissue.Conclusions:Our study suggests that saponin extract from Panax notoginseng and saponin–phospholipid complex have potential to prevent cancer,especially breast cancer.

Influence of phytochemicals in piper betle linn leaf extract on wound healing

Background:Wound healing has being extensively investigated over the world.Healing impairment is caused by many reasons including increasing of free-radicals-mediated damage,delaying in granulation tissue formation,reducing in angiogenesis and decreasing in collagen reorganization.These facts consequently lead to chronic wound healing.Piper betle Linn(Betle)leaves have been folklore used as an ingredient of drugs for cutaneous wound treatment.However,the effect of betle leaf on wound healing is not yet well elucidated.In this study,we aimed to investigate the healing efficacy of methanol leaf extract of Piper betle Linn on proliferation of fibroblast NIH3T3 cells as well as full-thickness burn and excision wounds in swiss mice.Methods:Scratch wound healing assays were conducted to examine the effects of betle leaf extract on healing activity of fibroblast cells.Burn and excision wounds on swiss mouse skins were created for investigating the wound healing progress caused by the betle leaf extract.Malondialdehyde(MDA)was also evaluated to examine the products of lipid hydroperoxide(LPO)under conditions of with or without betle leaf extract treatment.Results:The results of this study showed that Piper betle Linn leaf extract in methanol increased proliferation of NIH3T3 cells and promoted wound healing in vitro and in vivo with both burn wound and excision wound models.In addition,this extract significant decreased level of malondialdehyde(MDA)in liver of treated-mice compared with that in non-treated mice.Conclusions:Our results suggest that Piper betle Linn can be used as an ingredient in developing natural origin drugs for treatment of cutaneous wounds.