Radiosensitizing effect of camphor on transplantable mammary adenocarcinoma in mice.

The comparative radiosensitizing effects of camphor and metronidazole on murine transplantable mammary adenocarcinoma are reported. Male C3H/Jax mice bearing transplanted mammary tumours were treated with camphor (0.5 microM/body wt) or metronidazole (0.5 microM/g body wt) 45 min before subjecting to local X-irradiation at the dose levels of 30, 80, 100 or 120 Gy. Sequential in situ measurement of the tumour volumes during the follow-up period of 45 days revealed that the maximum enhancement ratios of tumour growth delay for camphor and metronidazole were 4.8 and 2.5, respectively. This suggests that camphor can be a potential radiosensitizing agent in cancer radiotherapy.