Dias, Marcos Correa [UNESP]Furtado, Kelly Silva [UNESP]Rodrigues, Maria Aparecida Marchesan [UNESP]Barbisan, Luis Fernando [UNESP]2014-05-272014-05-272013-05-01BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, v. 13.1472-6882http://hdl.handle.net/11449/75272Background: Ginkgo biloba extract (GbE) is used extensively by breast cancer patients undergoing treatment with Tamoxifen (TAM). Thus, the present study investigated the effects of GbE in female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats bearing chemically-induced mammary tumors and receiving TAM.Methods: Animals bearing mammary tumors (≥1 cm in diameter) were divided into four groups: TAM [10 mg/kg, intragastrically (i.g.)], TAM plus GbE [50 and 100 mg/kg, intraperitoneally (i.p.)] or an untreated control group. After 4 weeks, the therapeutic efficacy of the different treatments was evaluated by measuring the tumor volume (cm3) and the proportions of each tumor that were alive, necrotic or degenerative (mm2). In addition, labeling indexes (LI%) were calculated for cell proliferation (PCNA LI%) and apoptosis (cleaved caspase-3 LI%), expression of estrogen receptor-alpha (ER-α) and p63 biomarkers.Results: Overall, the tumor volume and the PCNA LI% within live tumor areas were reduced by 83% and 99%, respectively, in all TAM-treated groups when compared to the untreated control group. GbE treatment (100 mg/kg) reduced the proportions of live (24.8%) and necrotic areas (2.9%) (p = 0.046 and p = 0.038, respectively) and significantly increased the proportion of degenerative areas (72.9%) (p = 0.004) in mammary tumors when compared to the group treated only with TAM. The expression of ER-α, p63 and cleaved caspase-3 in live tumor tissues was not modified by GbE treatment.Conclusions: Co-treatment with 100 mg/kg GbE presented a slightly beneficial effect on the therapeutic efficacy of TAM in female SD rats bearing mammary tumors. © 2013 Dias et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.engComplementary and alternative medicineMammary carcinogenesisRatSelective estrogen receptor modulatorTamoxifencaspase 3estrogen receptor alphaGinkgo biloba extractprotein p63tamoxifentamoxifen citrateanimal experimentanimal modelantineoplastic activityapoptosisbreast tumorcell proliferationcontrolled studyfemaleGinkgo bilobanonhumanprotein cleavageprotein expressionrattumor volumeAnimalsAntineoplastic AgentsApoptosisBreast NeoplasmsCell ProliferationDrug Therapy, CombinationEstrogen Receptor alphaFemaleGene Expression Regulation, NeoplasticHumansMammary Neoplasms, AnimalPlant ExtractsRatsRats, Sprague-DawleyArtigo10.1186/1472-6882-13-93WOS:000319153300001Acesso aberto2-s2.0-848767969842-s2.0-84876796984.pdf3278528112652257