Abstract
Breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide. Santolina chamaecyparissus L. has successfully inhibited the MCF-7 cancer cell line. This study aims to evaluate the chemopreventive effects of S. chamaecyparissus aqueous extract (SCE) on female rats’ physiological parameters with mammary cancer induced by N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU). The institutional ethics committee approved this study. Twenty-eight four-week-old female Wistar rats were divided into Control, MNU-induced (IND), SCE and SCE+IND. SCE was supplemented with drinking water (120 µg/mL). At 50 days of age, MNU was intraperitoneally administered. Humane endpoints were evaluated weekly. After twenty-one weeks, animals were sacrificed by ketamine/xylazine overdose and blood was collected. A complete blood count was performed using an automated haematology analyser. An autoanalyzer was used to measure serum markers (albumin, cholesterol, glucose and triglycerides). SCE’s chemical characterisation was performed by LC-MS, as it found nineteen phenolic compounds, the main molecules were myricetin-O-glucuronide and 1,3-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid. Regarding haemoglobin concentration, there was a difference (p = 0.050) between SCE and Control (16.38 ± 0.41 g/dL and 15.18 ± 0.29 g/dL, respectively). Mean Platelet Volume differed between SCE+IND (8.29 ± 0.15 fL) and IND (9.03 ± 0.26 fL) (p = 0.014). Platelet Distribution Width differed between 9.06 ± 0.14 fL (SCE + IND) and 10.58 ± 0.42 fL (IND) (p < 0.001), but also between SCE (8.78 ± 0.16 fL) and SCE + IND versus control (9.86 ± 0.17 fL) (p = 0.007 and p = 0.034, respectively). SCE had no effect on the humane endpoints or serum markers. Platelet size appears to have been significantly affected by SCE. SCE supplementation had no effect on liver or kidney function or the well-being of the animals, implying it could be a viable treatment option for breast cancer. Histological analysis will help confirm SCE’s toxicological profile.
Supplementary Materials
The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/ECMC2022-13441/s1.
Author Contributions
Methodology and writing—original draft: T.A.; Investigation—T.A., J.S., A.V., L.A., T.C.F., A.C.S.-F., M.J.N., M.J.P.; conceptualization, supervision and project administration: L.B., M.M. and P.A.O. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
The authors acknowledge the financial support by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through a Doctoral Grant (2020.07999.BD, J.S.), and through national funds FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) to CITAB (UIDB/04033/2020), CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020 and UIDP/00690/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2021); L.B. thanks to the national funding by FCT through the institutional scientific employment program–contract for her contract.
Institutional Review Board Statement
This study was approved by an Ethics Review Body (“ORBEA—Órgão Responsável pelo Bem-Estar e Ética Animal”) under reference 834-e-CITAB-2020.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
Data is contained within the article.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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