Anti cancer activity of ethanolic extract of Leaves of Plumeria rubra (Linn)

Despite the great development of organic synthesis, currently 25% of prescribed drugs worldwide are still derived from plant sources, showing that plant species are still an important source of new drugs for diseases that continue to lack a cure, such as cancer 1 . The ethanolic extract of leaves of Plumeria rubra (Linn) were evaluated for their anti cancer activity against Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma (EAC) in Swiss albino mice. The extract of Plumeria rubra (Linn) at the dose of 200 mg/kg body and 400 mg/kg body weight were administered orally. Anti tumor efficacy of plant extracts were compared with 5-Fluorouracil (20 mg/kg/day i.p) for 9 days. The anti cancer activity of Plumeria rubra (Linn) was examined by determining the tumor volume, tumor cell count, viable tumor cell count, non viable tumor cell count, mean survival time and increase in life span in experimental animal models. Ethanolic extract of Plumeria rubra (Linn) increased the life span of EAC treated mice and restored the hematological parameters as compared with the EAC bearing mice. Thus the present study revealed that the ethanolic extract of Plumeria rubra (Linn) showed significant anti cancer activity in the tested animal models 2, 3 .