EFFECT OF RASAYANAS IN THE INHIBITION OF LUNG METASTASIS INDUCED BY B16F-10 MELANOMA-CELLS

Five rasayanas and one of the ingredients Emblica officinalis (EO), we re studied for their antimetastatic activity using B16F-10 melanoma ce lls in C57BL/6 mice. Simultaneous oral administration (50mg/animal/dos e) of Brahma Rasayana (BR) and Aswagandha Rasayana (AR) significantly reduced the lung tumour nodule formation by 71.28% (P < 0.001) and 55. 6% (P < 0.001), respectively. Similarly, the lung collagen hydroxyprol ine content and the serum sialic acid levels were also low in BR treat ed (4.8 +/- 0.97 ug/mg protein; 35.6 +/- 2.6 ug/ml serum) and AR treat ed animals (6.15 +/- 0.5 ug/mg protein; 56.3 +/- 8.7 ug/ml serum) comp ared to the untreated controls (10.43 +/- 0.7 ug/mg protein; 161.3 +/- 9.5 ug/ml serum). Narasimha Rasayana (NR), Amrithaprasam (AP), Chyava naprasam (CP) and Emblica extract (EO) administration had no significa nt effect in the reduction of lung nodule formation and lung hydroxypr oline and serum sialic acid contents which was similar to that of untr eated controls. Life span of BR, AR and NR treated animals was found t o be significantly increased. These results indicate that BR and AR po ssess antimetastatic activity against melanoma cells.