An In Vitro and In Vivo Assessment of Antitumor Activity of Extracts Derived from Three Well-Known Plant Species

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In the original paper entitled “An in vitro and in vivo assessment of antitumor activity of extracts derived from 3 well-known plant species, yet left underresearched in regard to this highly sought biological effect” by Dr Gligor et al., the Authors used in vitro studies on cancer cel lines followed by the use of ascites mouse model to analyse the effects of the extracts of

 Xanthium spinosum, Trifolium pratense, and Coffea arabica (green beans). In my opinion, the results of the study are interesting and the paper is decently written. Despite this, I have one major and several minor comments listed below. In general, a quality of presentation should be improved.

 Major comment

Sections regarding statistical analysis (2.4.5 Statistical analysis of the in vitro studies and 2.5.2. Statistical analysis of the in vivo assessments) should be combined into one section. The Authors showed mean and SD and used parametric tests such as ANOVA followed by post-hoc tests, however to do this, data should be normally distributed. Did the Authors verified a normality of distribution? Please, give this information (and name of the test) in the description of statistical analysis.

Minor comments

1.    In the title, please write in full: 3 -> three. Also, please consider rephrasing the title since the style is rather awkward.

2.    Abstract should be shortened since it exceeds a length typical for original papers. The limit of 250 words should applied.

3.    Lines 120-121: “The following equipment were used: 204 Sigma Centrifuge (Osterode am Harz, Germany); Analytical Plus Balance (Mettler-Toledo, Switzerland); Ultrasonic bath Elma Transsonic 700/H (Singen, Germany).” I do not think that a description of this very typical laboratory equipment is necessary – please delete.

4.    Conclusions should state the most important facts and implications from the study. The authors instead, decided to prepare another version of the abstract (see e.g. the lines 925-934). This section should be shortened and vastly rephrased.

I do not have specific comments regarding a quality of English.

Author Response

An in vitro and in vivo assessment of antitumor activity of extracts derived from three well-known plant species

(Previously titled: “An in vitro and in vivo assessment of antitumor activity of extracts derived from 3 well-known plant species, yet left under-researched in regard to this highly sought biological effect”)

Octavia Gligor, Simona Clichici, Remus Moldovan, Nicoleta Decea, Ana-Maria Vlase, Ionel Fizeșan, Anca Pop, Piroska Virag, Gabriela Adriana Filip, Laurian Vlase, Gianina Crișan

Esteemed Editor and Reviewers,

The authors of this paper wish to express their gratitude for your feedback. Please find below the authors’ comments on the current review report.

Reviewer #1 – Comments and replies

Reviewer 2 Report

Review comments to the author

Title: ''An in vitro and in vivo assessment of antitumor activity of extracts derived from 3 well-known plant species, yet left under researched in regard to this highly sought biological effect''.

Manuscript ID: plants-2349954.

Abstract:

- The most promising biological results should be mentioned.

Keywords:

- The scientific names of species should be written in italic font.

2. Materials and Methods:

2.3. HPLC-MS analysis of the plant extracts

- The term ''m/z'' should be written in italic font.

- This section should be moved to the supplementary file.

2.4. In vitro assessment of antioxidant and anticancerous activities

2.4.5. Statistical analysis of the in vitro studies

- In this subtitle, the word ''in vitro'' should be written in italic font.

2.5. In vivo assessment of the antitumor activity

2.5.2. Statistical analysis of the in vivo assessments

- In this subtitle, the word ''in vivo'' should be written in italic font.

3. Results:

3.1. HPLC-MS analysis of the extracts

- Insert HPLC-MS chromatograms.

5. Conclusions:

- Conclusion part should be more concise and supported by the results.

Citations in the text:

- Text citation should be written between closed brackets [] not Parentheses ().

Abbreviations:

- A list of abbreviations should be inserted by the end of the manuscript before references.

Author Response

An in vitro and in vivo assessment of antitumor activity of extracts derived from three well-known plant species

(Previously titled: “An in vitro and in vivo assessment of antitumor activity of extracts derived from 3 well-known plant species, yet left under-researched in regard to this highly sought biological effect”)

Octavia Gligor, Simona Clichici, Remus Moldovan, Nicoleta Decea, Ana-Maria Vlase, Ionel Fizeșan, Anca Pop, Piroska Virag, Gabriela Adriana Filip, Laurian Vlase, Gianina Crișan

Esteemed Editor and Reviewers,

The authors of this paper wish to express their gratitude for your feedback. Please find below the authors’ comments on the current review report.

Reviewer #2 – Comments and replies