Protective Potentials of a Potentized Homoeopathic Drug, Lycopodium-30, In Ameliorating Azo Dye Induced Hepatocarcinogenesis Is Mice

Abstract

The protective potentials of a potentized homoeopathic drug, Lycopodium-30, prepared from extract of spores of a plant, Lycopodium clavatum (Fam: Lycopodiaceae) and used as a remedy for various liver ailments, have been tested in mice chronically fed p-dimethyl amino azo benzene (p-DAB) – an initiator, and phenobarbital (PB) - a promoter of hepatic cancer, by using some cytogenetic endpoints like chromosome aberrations (CA), micronuclei (MN), miotic index (MI) and sperm head abnormality (SHA), and toxicity biomarkers like acid and alkaline phosphatases (AcP and AlkP, respectivey), alanine and aspartate amino transferases (ALT and AST, respectively), and lipid peroxidation (LPO) and reduced glutathione (GSH) activities. The effects of chronic treatment of the carcinogens were assessed at different intervals of fixation, namely, at day 7, 15, 30, 60, 90 and day 120, and compared with that of mice fed conjointly with the carcinogens and the homoeopathic remedy. Both the assay system indicated considerable protective potentials of the homoeopathic remedy against p-DAB induced hepatocarcinogenesis in mice. (Mol Cell Biochem 285: 121- 131, 2006).