title: Antitumor activity of methanol extract from roots of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb.
abstract: To evaluate the antitumor activity of Agrimonia pilosa LEDEB., the effects of the methanol extract from roots of the plant (AP-M) on several transplantable rodent tumors were investigated. AP-M significantly prolonged the life span of S180-, Meth-A fibrosarcoma- and MM-2 mammary carcinoma-bearing mice by intraperitoneal (i.p.) pre- or postmedication. AP-M also inhibited the growth of S-180 solid type tumor. On the other hand, the prolongation of life span induced by AP-M on S-180 ascites type tumor-bearing mice was markedly minimized or abolished by the pretreatment of cyclophosphamide. AP-M showed considerably strong cytotoxicity on MM-2 cells in vitro, but the effect was diminished to one-tenth by the addition of serum to the culture. Against the host animals, the peripheral white blood cells in mice were significantly increased from 2 to 5 days after the i.p. injection of AP-M. On 4th day after the injection of AP-M, the peritoneal exudate cells which possessed the cytotoxic activity on MM-2 cells in vitro were also increased to about 5-fold those in the non-treated control. The spleen of the mice was enlarged, and the spleen cells possessed the capacity to uptake 3H-thymidine. However, AP-M did not show direct migration activity like other mitogens against spleen cells from non-treated mice. These results indicate that the roots of Agrimonia pilosa contain some antitumor constituents, and possible mechanisms of the antitumor activity may be some host-mediated actions and direct cytotoxicity.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D001202:Ascitic Fluid; D002460:Cell Line; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic / Q000187:drug effects; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D005260:Female; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D000432:Methanol; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D013154:Spleen / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D013936:Thymidine / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D010936:Plant Extracts; D013936:Thymidine; D000432:Methanol