Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences

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POSSIBLE PROTECTIVE ANTICANCER EFFECT OF ETHYL ACETATE FRACTION OF IRAQI HIBISCUS TILIACEUS L. LEAVES EXTRACT ON DIETHYLNITROSAMINE-INDUCED HEPATOCARCINOGENESIS IN MALE RATS

ZAHRAA MAAN ABDUL-AZEEZ 1*, SHIHAB HATTAB MUTLAG 2

1Medicolegal Directorate, Ministry of Health and Environment, Baghdad-Iraq.
2Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq.

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Hepatocellular carcinoma is a serious disease with high malignancy, rapid development and a poor prognosis. It starts with fibrosis, cirrhosis, and then cancer. Diethylnitrosamine (DEN) is a strong carcinogen used to induce cancer in animals. Due to their bioactive ingredients, herbal plants have been widely employed as low-cost, low-side-effect alternative medicines for liver problems. Hibiscus tiliaceus L. (Malvaceae) plant extracts contain flavonoids, coumarins, phenols, glycosides, tannins, triterpenoids, saponins, quinones and steroids. Thus, it offers several health benefits and medical and therapeutic qualities, including hepatoprotective, antimutagenic and natural antibacterial and antioxidant capabilities. The study examined whether the ethyl acetate leaf extract of Iraqi Hibiscus tiliaceus L. in two graded dosages protected male Wistar Albino rats against diethylnitrosamine-induced liver cancer. In this study, rats were randomized into four groups (six rats per group): Group I (control group): received 1 mL/kg/day of distilled water for 20 weeks; Group II (HCC induction): received 70 mg/kg diethyl nitrosamine intraperitoneally once per week for ten weeks; Group III: received 250 mg/kg of the ethyl acetate leaf extract of Hibiscus tiliaceus orally with their food for five days per week for 20 weeks; and Group IV: rats received 500 mg/kg of the ethyl acetate leaf extract of Hibiscus tiliaceus as oral administration with their food for five days per week for 20 weeks. Iraqi Hibiscus tiliaceus L. ethyl acetate leaf extract significantly reduced MDA, AFP, AFP-L3, ALT, AST, TBS and inflammatory mediators (TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β) (p < 0.05) and improved the antioxidant levels (GSH and SOD) significantly, making it chemoprotective.