Protective effect of Operculina turpethum against 7,12-dimethyl benz(a)anthracene induced oxidative stress with reference to breast cancer in experimental rats

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) directly or indirectly involves in multistage process of carcinogenesis. Antioxidant activity of methanolic extract of Operculina turpethum stems (MEOT) on 7,12 dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) induced breast cancer was investigated in female Sprague-Dawley rats. Changes in the levels of lipid peroxidation and antioxidants system was evaluated in addition to tumour development. Twenty four female rats were divided into four groups: control, DMBA, DMBA + MEOT and MEOT. In the DMBA group, rats were intragastrically administered with 20 mg of DMBA using corn oil as vehicle. Animals of DMBA + MEOT group received a single dose of 20 mg of DMBA dissolved in corn oil intragastrically followed by O. turpethum extract (100 mg/kg body weight), while MEOT group received O. turpethum extract (100 mg/kg body weight) intragastrically daily for a period of 45 days. After the experimental period of 45 days, oxidative stress parameters were assessed in serum, liver and breast of both control and experimental groups. In addition to this, tumour weight of breast was also assessed. A significant increase in lipid peroxidation levels were observed in the tested samples of cancer induced rats while the activities of enzymic antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and non-enzymic antioxidants like glutathione (GSH), ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and α-tocopherol (Vitamin E) were decreased in cancer-bearing animals when compared to control animals. A significant (P < 0.05) increase in the tumour weight was observed in the breast of DMBA group and the breast tumour weight decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in the DMBA + MEOT groups. Oral administration of MEOT remarkably reduced the lipid peroxidation activity and increased the antioxidants level in drug treated animals and decreased the tumour weight significantly (P < 0.05). This result suggests that MEOT shows antioxidant activity and play a protective role against DMBA induced breast cancer.