Anticarcinogenic potential of Solanum lycocarpum fruits glycoalkaloid extract in male wistar rats

Solanum lycocarpum St. Hill. (Solanaceae) is a hairy shrub or small much-branched tree of the Brazilian Cerrado, popularly known as “fruit-of-wolf”. Besides the current use for the control of diabetes and obesity, the green fruits are topically applied on snakebites and the hot baked fruit is used in the treatment of tissue atrophy. Plants of genus Solanum are known for their high alkaloid concentration and part of their toxicity may be due to these alkaloids. Solasonine and solamargine are two major glycoalkaloids found in at least 100 Solanum species. Studies on the activities of solamargine demonstrated that it inhibits the growth of human tumor cells, eg. colon, prostate, breast and hepatoma cells. In this sense, the aim of present study was to evaluate the anticarcinogenic potential of S. lycocarpum fruits glycoalkaloid extract (SL) on the formation of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) induced aberrant crypt foci (ACF) in the colon of male Wistar rats by ACF assays. Animals were treated by gavage with doses of 15, 30 and 60mg/kg body weight/day. Also, two doses subcutaneous injection of 40mg/kg of DMH were administered for two weeks, and animals were sacrificed two weeks after the last injection for evaluating ACF development in rats' colon. The results showed a significant reduction in the frequency of ACF in the group treated with the SL plus DMH in comparison with those treated with DMH alone, suggesting that SL suppressed the formation of ACF, as well as had a protective affect against colon carcinogenesis.