Toxicological evaluation of zerumbone on antitumor effects in mice

Abstract

Zerumbone (ZER), a bioactive compd. isolated from Zingiber zerumbet Smith, was examd. for single and repeated-dose toxicity at dosages with antitumor effects on imprinting control regions (ICR) mice and mice of either sex for repeated dose, resp. For the single dose toxicity study, ZER was administrated to ICR mice at a dose of 500 mg/kg via i.p. injection, while for the repeated dose toxicity study, mice of either sex were studied at dosages of 5, 25 and 50 mg/kg for a period of 28 days. The effects on body and organ wt., food and water consumption, hematol., serum biochem. as well as histol., were evaluated. No mortality or significant changes in the clin. signs were produced at the single dose toxicity. There were no significant differences in the general condition, growth, organ wts., hematol., serum biochem., or histopathol. anal. in the repeated dose toxicity as well. These results suggest that ZER is safe in a toxicity study for the cancer treatment in mice regardless of whether male or female mice. [on SciFinder(R)]