Lessons from the Chick Embryo Model: Evaluating the Anticancer Potential of Homeopathic Medicines
Varada Kulkarni, Rajesh Shah, Gitanjali Talele, Savita Datar
A
BSTRACT
Background:
Potentized homeopathic preparations have been shown to contain nanoparticles of the source material that can trigger therapeutic responses. The objective of the present work is to apprehend the mechanism of action of homeopathic investigational medicinal products (IMP) for cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines employing the chick embryo model.
Methods:
Chick embryo yolk sac membranes (YSM) treated with IMPs were homogenized to obtain the enzyme extracts. Antioxidant enzyme Catalase (CAT) was assessed by measuring the decomposition of H 2 O 2 , while the nitro blue tetrazolium (NBT) photochemical assay was used to estimate the level of Superoxide Dismutase (SOD). The chick embryo YSM assay was employed for the angiogenic screening. In this assay, YSMs were photographed 24 hours after the exposure to IMPs (1:10, 40 μl), followed by counting the types of blood vessels using ImageJ software.
Results:
Exposure of the chick (YSM) to IMPs resulted in a statistically significant decrease in the level of CAT. The estimated amount of Catalase (U/ml) was in the order of the control (0.1641 ± 0.039), Carcinosin 30c (0.1323 ± 0.0102,
Conclusion:
The results unequivocally demonstrate that the cytotoxicity of IMPs in this study against cancer cell lines is due to their potential to increase ROS beyond life threshold by decreasing the level of Catalase and decreasing the growth of neo-angiogenesis in YSM model.