Evaluating the Chemopreventive Properties of Aqueous Seed Extract of Trigonella foenum graecum Against p-Dimethylaminoazobenzene (p-DAB) Induced Carcinogenesis in Mice

Abstract

Aqueous seed extract of Trigonella foenum graecum broadly used in traditional system of medicine against liver ailments has been tested for its chemopreventive and antigenotoxic effects against p-dimethylaminoazobenzene (p-DAB) through multiple end points, viz. enzymological, cytogenetical, haematological histological and few immunological parameters. Mice (Mus musculus) were divided into the following sets. Group I: normal control, Group II: phenobarbital (PB), Group III: only p-DAB, Group IV: p-DAB + PB, Group V: p-DAB + PB + TG 1 (300 mg/kg b.wt.), Group VI: p-DAB + PB + TG 2 (400 mg/kg b.wt.), Group VII: p-DAB + PB + H2O. They were sacrificed at 90- and 120-day fixation intervals. Chronic feeding of p-DAB + PB resulted in elevated levels of AST, ALT, LDH, GGT along with an increase in chromosomal aberration, micronucleus and decrease in SOD and catalase activities at both fixation intervals (p < 0.05 to p < 0.001) when compared to normal control, phenobarbital (PB), only p-DAB, p-DAB + PB + TG1 (300 mg/kg b.wt.), p-DAB + PB + TG2 (400 mg/kg b.wt. fed mice). A similar trend was also noticed with regard to proinflammatory cytokines. On histopathological analysis of liver notable modulatory changes were visible between treated and control sets. Both the doses offered protection; however, the dose of 300 mg/kg dose offered better protection than the 400 mg/kg dose, thereby making it a good candidate to be used as supporting palliating measure. We want others to confirm and refute our findings.