Antitumor Activity of the Methanol Extract of Hypericum hookerianum Stem Against Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma in Swiss Albino Mice.

A large number of plants belonging to the Hypericum family are known to possess strong antitumor properties. The methanol extract of H. hookerianum Wight and Arnott stem (MEHH) exhibited potent in vitro cytotoxic activity against various cancerous cell lines. In the present study, the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) standardized MEHH was tested for in vivo antitumor properties against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) tumor bearing mice at 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg body weight doses given orally once daily for 14 days. The results indicate that administration of the extract not only increased the survival of animals with ascites tumor, decreased the body weight induced by the tumor burden, and reduced packed cell volume and viable tissue cell count, but also altered many hematological parameters changed during tumor progression, indicating the potent antitumor nature of the extract. Among the three doses tested, the 200 mg/kg body weight dose was found to be the most potent.