Comparing the Effect of Ficus Benjamina Extract and Pereskia Saecnarosa Extract on the Level of Micro and Macro Minerals in Normal and Induced Liver Cancer Rats

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common malignancy in the world. It is much prevalent in many of the developing countries than in the industrialized world. The effect of Ficus Benjamina extract and Pereskia Saecnarosa extract was studied on the level of micro and macro minerals in normal and induced liver cancer rats. The extracts of Ficus Benjamina and Pereskia Saecnarosa were prepared and were given to the rats through ad libitum. Forty-four male rats from the species Sprague Dawley were used as a model. They were acclimatized for duration of one week and further divided into 6 groups at random. The 6 groups were: control, cancer; normal rats supplemented with Ficus Benjamina, cancer rats supplemented with Ficus Benjamina, normal rats supplemented with Pereskia saecnarosa and cancer rats supplemented with Pereskia saecnarosa. Twelve weeks later, the blood of each rat was taken for the analysis of calcium, iron and zinc and body weight was taken before and after the treatment. The very obvious result was the highest weight gained by the normal rats supplemented with Ficus benjamina extract. However, the weight gain was not significant to the control group but it was significant to the cancerous group. In all the 6 groups irrespective of their treatment, the level of minerals was almost the same. From the statistical analysis, it was found that there was a significant relationship in the level of calcium between the cancerous rats and the cancerous rats given Pereskia saecnarosa (p<0.05). Moreover, a significant relationship in the level of iron was found between the cancerous rats and the cancerous rats supplemented with Pereskia saecnarosa (p<0.05). However the cancerous rats supplemented with Pereskia saecnarosa showed a lower level of ferrum in their blood serum. Furthermore a significant relationship was found in the level of zinc between the control rats and normal rats supplemented with Pereskia saecnarosa (p<0.05). In conclusion, there is no significant relationship between the effect of Ficus Benjamina and Pereskia saecnarosa extract and the level of calcium, iron and zinc.