Adolfo Soto-Domínguez; Luis B. Serrano-Gallardo; Rubén García-Garza; Pablo Ruíz-Flores; Javier Morán-Martínez; Martha P. Nava-Hernández & Edith F. Martínez-Pérez

Ruta graveolens, is a native plant of the Eastern Mediterranean and the South Western area of Asia. From this plant, more than 120 chemical compounds have been isolated. In a previous study in our laboratory, we observed that an aqueous extract of R. graveolens, caused necrosis and morphological alterations suggestive of apoptosis on the liver of Wistar rats. The objective of this study, was to evaluate the induction of apoptosis and a possible antiproliferative effect in vivo of an aqueous extract of R. graveolens from the north of Mexico, by immunohistochemical methods. 25 Wistar rats were used and divided into 5 groups (n= 5). Group 1 corresponded to negative control group, group 2 or positive control was treated with 100 mg of dexamethasone/kg/day. Groups 3 and 4 were treated with 30 and 100 mg of extract of R. graveolens/kg/day respectively. Group 5 received the administration of 100 mg of dexamethasone/kg/day combined with 100 mg of extract of R. graveolens/kg/day. The administrations were by intraperitoneal via for three days. The animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, liver samples were taken, fixed in formalin and then samples were embedded in paraffin blocks. Histological sections were obtained and stained with Masson trichrome method. Immunohistochemical assays of TUNEL, anti-bcl-2, and anti-PCNA were performed. Also a morphometric study was carried out. Results show for the first time the potential apoptotic and antiproliferative effect of an aqueous extract of R. graveolens from the north of Mexico on the liver of Wistar rats. This suggests the use of lower doses of the extract of R. graveolens, to investigate its potential use as an antineoplastic agent, in studies in vitro with tumor cell lines and/or implanted in murine models of cancer.

KEY WORDS: Ruta graveolens; Apoptosis; Antiproliferative effect.

SOTO-DOMÍNGUEZ, A.; SERRANO-GALLARDO, L. B.; GARCÍA-GARZA, R.; RUÍZ-FLORES, P.; MORÁN-MARTÍNEZ, J.; NAVA- HERNÁNDEZ, M. P. & MARTÍNEZ-PÉREZ, E. F. Aqueous extract of Ruta graveolens from the north of Mexico causes apoptosis and shows antiproliferative effect on the liver of Wistar rat: morphological evidence. Int. J. Morphol., 31(4):1340-1348, 2013.