Potent chemopreventive effect of mangiferin on lung carcinogenesis in experimental Swiss albino mice.

OBJECTIVE

In the present study the effects of mangiferin were tested against lung cancer-bearing mice in both the pre-initiation and post-initiation periods.

METHODS

Healthy male Swiss albino mice (6-8 weeks old) were used throughout the study. The animals were treated with mangiferin (100 mg/kg body weight dissolved in corn oil) two weeks before (pre-initiation) and the twelfth week after (post-initiation) the establishment of B (a) P (50 mg/kg body weight)-induced lung carcinoma.

RESULTS

The body weight decreased and the lung weight and levels of xenobiotic and liver marker enzymes markedly increased in the carcinogen-administered animals; and mangiferin treatment brought the values of these parameters back to the near-normal ones. The activities of lysosomal enzymes in the animals with B (a) P-induced experimental lung carcinogenesis were also assessed. In these animals there was an increase in the activities of lysosomal enzymes such as acidphosphatase, β-glucuronidase, N-acetyl glucosaminidase, and β-galactosidase.

CONCLUSIONS

Supplementation with mangiferin attenuated all these alterations, thus indicating its anticancer effect. Overall, the above data showed that the anticancer effect of mangiferin as a chemopreventive agent was pronounced.