Evaluation ofAntitumor, Immunomodulatory and Free Radical Scavenging Effects of A New Herbal Prescription Seaweed Complex Preparation

Seaweed Complex Preparation （SCP） is a clinical traditional Chinese medicine preparation which is composed of seven traditional Chinese herbs, and it has been used for treatment of lung cancer, liver cancer and digestive cancer. However, little infor- mation is available about the pharmacodynamic basis. The antitumor, immunomodulatory and free radical scavenging effects of SCP were evaluated in this study. Transplanted tumor in vivo method was used to determine the antitumor effect. The effects on spleno- cyte proliferation and phagocytosis of macrophages in tumor-bearing mice were measured by the MTT method and the phagocytizing cock red blood cell （CRBC） method respectively. The scavenging activities of SCP on DPPH and hydroxyl radicals in vitro were investigated. It was found that the medium-dose and high-dose of SCP could significantly inhibit the growth of transplanted hepatic tumor of murine hepatocarcinoma cell line H22, and promote proliferation of splenocytes and phagocytosis of macrophages. SCP possessed noticeable scavenging activities on DPPH and hydroxyl radicals. The antiturnor effects of SCP might be achieved by im- proving immune system and scavenging free radicals, which is in accordance with the viewpoint of traditional Chinese medicine in promoting the body resistance and eliminating pathogenic factors for cancer treatment.     

Study on the Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Sea Cucumber （Paracaudina chinens vat.） Gelatin Hydrolysate

Gelatin from the sea cucumber （Paracaudina chinens var.） was hydrolyzed by bromelain and the hydrolysate was found to have a high free radical scavenging activity. The hydrolysate was fractionated through an ultrafiltration membrane with 5 kDa molecular weight cutoff （MWCO）. The portion （less than 5 kDa） was further separated by Sephadex G-25. The active peak was collected and assayed for free radical scavenging activity. The scavenging rates for superoxide anion radicals （O2·^-） and hydroxyl radicals （·OH） of the fraction with the highest activity were 29.02% and 75.41%, respectively. A rabbit liver mitochondrial free radical damage model was adopted to study the free radical scavenging activity of the fraction. The results showed that the sea cucumber gelatin hydrolysate can prevent the damage of rabbit liver and mitochondria.