Plants are rich sources of natural products used in the treatment of diseases. Semecarpus anacardium Linn. of the family Anacardiaceae has many applications in the Ayurvedic and Siddha systems of medicine. Because of its wide therapeutic utility, Semecarpus anacardium nut milk extract (Serankottai nei) has been tested against experimental mammary carcinoma in rats. Because the activity of tumour marker enzymes is proportional to the extent of malignancy, changes in the activity of these enzymes from the livers and kidneys of experimental rats were used as indices to assess the antineoplastic potency of the drug. A significant reduction in the activity of aspartate and alanine aminotransferases and a sharp increase in that of lactate dehydrogenase, γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, alkaline phosphatase and 5′-nucleotidase were observed in animals with mammary carcinoma. On administration of Semecarpus anacardium nut extract the activity of these enzymes returned almost to normal control levels. No adverse symptoms or significant changes were observed in drug control rats when compared with normal control rats.
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Sujatha et al. (2000) studied this question.