Rajamani Paulraj, Banerjeet Sanjeev, Rao A Ramesha
School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110 067, India.
Indian J Exp Biol. 2011 Nov;49(11):857-63.
In the present study, the putative potential of pericarp of dried fruit of Zanthoxylum (Rutaceae Family), a common spice additive in India's west coast cuisines, in protecting against carcinogenesis has been reported. Extract from dried fruit of Zanthoxylum was orally administered to mice at two dose levels: 100 and 200 mg/kg body wt. for 14 days. Results reveal bifunctional nature of Zanthoxylum species as deduced from its potential to induce phase-I and phase-II enzyme activities associated with carcinogen activation and detoxification in the liver of mice. Hepatic glutathione S-transferase and DT-diaphorase were found significantly elevated by the treatment. Zanthoxylum was also effective in augmenting the antioxidant enzyme activities of glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase albeit significantly by high dose of the extract (P < 0.05; P < 0.01). Reduced glutathione was also significantly elevated in the liver of treated animals (P < 0.05). The present study also investigated peri-initiation application of acetone extract of Zanthoxylum on initiated mouse skin. Results showed a significant reduction in tumor incidence from 68% to 36% (P < 0.05); as well as, a reduction in tumor burden per effective mouse from 3.87 to 0.72 (P < 0.01). Cumulatively, the findings strongly suggest cancer chemopreventive potential of Zanthoxylum sps.
在本研究中，已报道了花椒（芸香科）干果的果皮（印度西海岸美食中常见的一种香料添加剂）在预防癌症发生方面的潜在可能性。将花椒干果提取物以两种剂量水平口服给予小鼠：100和200毫克/千克体重，持续14天。结果显示，从花椒诱导与小鼠肝脏中致癌物激活和解毒相关的I相和II相酶活性的潜力推断，花椒具有双功能性质。经处理后，肝脏谷胱甘肽S-转移酶和DT-黄递酶显著升高。花椒对增强谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶、超氧化物歧化酶和过氧化氢酶的抗氧化酶活性也有效，尽管高剂量提取物作用显著（P < 0.05；P < 0.01）。处理动物肝脏中的还原型谷胱甘肽也显著升高（P < 0.05）。本研究还调查了花椒丙酮提取物在引发小鼠皮肤上的起始期应用。结果显示肿瘤发生率从68%显著降低至36%（P < 0.05）；有效小鼠的肿瘤负荷也从3.87降至0.72（P < 0.01）。总的来说，这些发现有力地表明了花椒属植物具有癌症化学预防潜力。
