Antitumor effects of ethanolic extracts from Sophora moorcroftiana seeds in mice.

Background: Sophora moorcroftiana (Wallich) is an endemic shrub species in Tibet, China, and is a plant with a great value in folk medicine. The previous studies had shown that the ethanolic (95%) extracts were much more effective than other extracts from Sophora moorcroftiana seeds on antiproliferative effects, inducing apoptosis in the human stomach cancer SGC-7901 cell line in vitro. Methods: To investigate the antitumor activity of the ethanolic extracts from Sophora moorcroftiana seeds, various doses of ethanolic extracts (200 mg/kg/d, 400 mg/kg/d, 800 mg/Kg/d) were administered via gavage to tumor-bearing mice with S-180 sarcoma cell for ten days. The weights of tumor tissue stripped from the left flank, TNF-alpha and IL-2 in blood-serum were tested and analyzed for photochemical composition, using standard procedures. Results: The weight of tumor tissue was significantly decreased upon the treatment with ethanol extracts, but the decrease was more prominent in the group receiving ethanol extracts treatment at 800 mg/kg/d (1.35 +/- 0.21 mg) and the inhibition rate on the growth of tumor tissue was higher (28.1%). The structural changes of post-treatment in the tumor tissue by the ethanolic extracts at a dose of 800 mg/kg/d showed larger areas of necrosis and more significantly invaded lymphocytes. IL-2 and TNF-alpha in serum from the treated mice significantly increased in ethanolic extract-treated groups, compared with the untreated control animals. Conclusion: This suggested that the ethanolic extracts from Sophora moorcroftiana seeds had a weak antitumor role and in high concentration to tumor-bearing mice in vivo, the 95% ethanolic extracts was rather effective.