Efficacy of intra-tumor injection of Xiao-Zhi-Ling on transplanted hepatoma in rats.

AIM

To study the therapeutic effectiveness of intra-tumor injection of Xiao-Zhi-Ling(XZL) on transplanted hepatoma in rats.

METHODS

Sixty rats were divided into 3 groups (groups S, X and E), 20 in each. Different drugs were injected into the implanted hepatoma (Group S with 0.2 ml saline as control, group X with 0.2 ml XZL, group E with 0.2 ml ethanol). After 3 days and 8 days respectively, we detected the hepatoma volume (HV), the level of albumin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in serum, and the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) in hepatoma.

RESULTS

The results were obtained after 3 days, the HVs in groups X and E were smaller than those in group S (group X vs S P=0.010(), group E vs S P=0.002(), P<0.05). The levels of ALT and AST in group S and X were lower than those in group E (ALT Group S vs E P=0.019(), group X vs E P=0.003(), P<0.05; AST group X vs E P=0.002(), P<0.05). The levels of ALP and PCNA labeling index in group X were lower than those in group S and E (ALP group X vs S P=0.000(), group X vs E P=0.000(). P<0.05; PCNA group X vs S P=0.008(), group X vs E P=0.048(), P<0.05). The levels of creatinine in group S were lower than those in group E (group S vs E P=0.017, P<0.05). The degree of tumor necrosis in group S was lower than those in groups X and E (group S vs X P=0.006(), group S vs E P=0.006(), P<0.05). After 8 days, the HVs in groups X and E were smaller than those in group S (group X vs S P=0.007(), group E vs S P=0.004(), P<0.05). The difference of HVs between groups X and E was not significant. The levels of albumin, ALT, AST and creatinine in group X were not higher than those in other groups, the levels of ALP and PCNA in group X were lower than those in groups S and E (ALP group X vs E P=0.006() P<0.05; PCNA group X vs S P=0.044(), group X vs E P=0.021(), P<0.05). The degree of tumor necrosis in group S was lower than that in groups X and E (group S vs X P=0.001(), group S vs E P=0.002(), P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

The therapeutic effectiveness of intra-tumor injection of XZL and ethanol on implanted hepatoma is obvious, but the toxicity of XZL on liver function is markedly lower than that of group E, at the same time XZL can inhibit the growth of tumor. XZL is relatively better and safer than ethanol in intra-tumor injection therapy.