Antitumor activity of Manilkara zapota (L.) fruits against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma in mice

As a part of searching for potential anticancer agents from natural sources, this investigation was carried out to evaluate the antitumor effect of ethyl acetate extract of <i>Manilkara zapota</i> (L.) fruits (EEFM) against Ehrlich acsites carcinoma (EAC) in Swiss albino mice. The antitumour activity of EEFM has been evaluated against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma (EAC) at the doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg body weight. Treatment with EEFM (at 100 mg/kg body) showed a significant increase in the survival time and decrease in the viable tumor cell count and weight gain in the EAC tumor hosts. Improvement in the altered hematological parameters following the EEFM treatment, like hemoglobin content, RBC and WBC count of the tumor bearing mice, have also been observed. During tumor progression, altered biochemical (SALP and SGOT) parameters were also significantly restored in EEFM-treated mice at 100 mg/kg. In brine shrimp lethality bioassay, the cytotoxicity against <i>Artemia salina</i> in terms of LD₅₀ was found to be 3.06 μg/ml for EEFM. So, the results of this study conclude that <i>in vivo</i> the EEFM was effective in inhibiting the growth of EAC.