SERUM LDH AND ALP ISOZYME ACTIVITIES IN MICE BEARING SOLID EHRLICH CARCINOMA AND OR TREATED WITH THE MAXIMUM TOLERATED DOSE (MTD) OF ALOIN/

Determination of total LDH and ALP activities and their isozyme patter ns in the sera of normal and tumour-bearing animals treated with aloin , a natural anthraquinone with potential antitumour activity, was carr ied out at 3, 6 and 9 weeks of treatment. Treatment of normal mice wit h the MTD of aloin (50 mg/Kg b.w.) showed non-significant changes in s erum total LDH and ALP activities along with their isozymes throughout the experimental periods. In untreated tumour-bearing animals, serum LDH activity and its isozymes: LDH1-LDH5 showed highly significant inc reases (192, 32.4, 25.2, 24.7, 29.2 and 30.6%, respectively) after 3 w eeks. Highly significant inhibition was recorded in serum total ALP ac tivity and its intestinal and bone isozymes (64, 100 and 56%, respecti vely), while liver ALP isozyme was increased by 82.3%. Treatment of tu mour-bearing mice with the MTD of aloin manifested a significant gradu al improvement in both enzyme activities and their isozymes, which wer e normalized at the end of the experiment (9 weeks), with the exceptio n of intestinal ALP isozyme. All results were reported in comparison t o the normal control group.