Context: Ardisia crispa Thunb. A. DC (Myrsinaceae) or locally known as hen's eyes has been used in local folk medicine as a remedy in various illnesses. Previously, it has been reported to inhibit various inflammatory diseases. However, research done on this plant is still limited.
Aims: In the present study, the hexane fraction of the A. crispa root (ACRH) was evaluated on the peri-initiation and promotion phases of skin carcinogenesis.
Materials and methods: This two-stage skin carcinogenesis was induced by a single topical application of 7,12-dimethylbenz(α)anthracene (DMBA) and promoted by repeated treatment with croton oil for 10 weeks in Imprinting Control Region (ICR) mice. Morphological observation would be conducted to measure tumor incidence, tumor burden, and tumor volume. Histological evaluation on the skin tissue would also be done.
Results: The carcinogen control group exhibited 66.67% of tumor incidence. Although, in the ACRH-treated groups, at 30 mg/kg, the mice showed only 10% of tumor incidence with a significant reduction (P < 0.05) in the values of tumor burden and tumor volume of 2.00 and 0.52 mm(3), respectively. Furthermore, the result was significantly lower than that of the carcinogen and curcumin control. At 100 mg/kg, ACRH showed a comparable result to carcinogen control. On the contrary, at 300 mg/kg, ACRH exhibited 100% tumor incidence and showed a significant elevated (P < 0.05) value of tumor burden (3.80) and tumor volume (14.67 ± 2.48 mm(3)).
Conclusions: The present study thus demonstrates that the anti-tumor effect of the chemopreventive potential of ACRH is at a lower dosage (30 mg/kg bwt) in both the initiating and promotion period, yet it exhibits a promoting effect at a higher dosage (300 mg/kg bwt).