Efficacy of Terminalia arjuna (Roxb.) on N-nitrosodiethylamine induced hepatocellular carcinoma in rats.

The effect of ethanolic extract of Terminalia arjuna bark on carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes of N-nitrosodiethylamine induced hepatocellular carcinoma in Wistar albino rats were studied. The plasma and liver glycolytic enzymes such as hexokinase, phosphoglucoisomerase, aldolase were significantly increased in cancer induced animals while glyconeogenic enzyme, glucose-6-phosphatase was decreased. These enzymes were reverted significantly to near normal range in treated animals after oral administration of T. arjuna for 28 days. The modulation of the enzymes constitute the depletion of energy metabolism leads to inhibition of cancer growth. This inhibitory activity may be due to the anticancer activity of constituents present in the ethanolic extract of T. arjuna.