Chemomodulatory effects of Aegle marmelos against DMBA-induced skin tumorigenesis in Swiss albino mice.

Aegle marmelos is widely used in Indian Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. In the present study, cancer chemopreventive properties were evaluated on 7, 12-dimethylbenz (a) anthracene (DMBA) induced skin papillomagenesis in Swiss albino mice. A single topical application of DMBA, followed 2 weeks later by repeated application of croton oil till the end of the experiment ( i.e. 16 weeks) caused a 100% tumor incidence. In contrast, mice treated with the AME (50 mg/kg b. wt./animal/day) in the peri-initiational phase (i.e. 7 days before and 7 days after DMBA application; Group IV) and post-initiational phase (from the day of croton oil treatment till the end of the experiment; Group V), exhibited a significant reduction to 70 and 50% respectively. The cumulative number of papillomas after 16 weeks was 67 in the control group, but 26 and 23 in the animals treated with AME at peri-initiational and post-initiational stages, respectively. The tumor burden and tumor yield were significantly decreased (Group IV-3.7, 2.6; Group V- 4.6, 2.3) as compared to carcinogen treated control group (6.7, 6.7). The present study demonstrates the chemopreventive potential of Aegle marmelos fruit extract on DMBA induced skin tumorigenesis in mice.