General pharmacological properties, developmental toxicity, and analgesic activity of gambogic acid, a novel natural anticancer agent

Abstract

In this article, the general pharmacological toxicity of gambogic acid (GA), a new anticancer agent, on the dog cardiovascular and respiratory system and the mouse central nervous system (CNS) were observed. The developmental toxicity and analgesic activities of GA were also investigated in rats and mice. Results showed that GA did not cause any toxic symptoms on blood pressure (i.e., mean arterial pressure), heart rate (HR), and respiratory frequency. However, a high dose of GA showed slight side effects on the mouse CNS. Further, evidence of maternal and developmental toxicity was observed in a dose-dependent manner. The maternal body-weight gain, as well as the birth weights and live birth index, were decreased significantly in the treatment groups. The inhibitory effects of GA on fetal skeletal development were also found. No obvious effects of GA on external alterations and visceral alterations were shown. In the analgesic experiments, GA showed significant analgesic activity in the acetic-acid–induced writhing study in a dose-dependent manner. This mechanism might be related to its anti-inflammation properties.

Keywords::

• Gambogic acid
• general pharmacology
• developmental toxicity
• analgesic

Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the Jiangsu province Industrial Promoting Center of Hitech for Financial Aid (No. 0104012) and the Jiangsu province Science and Technology Program (No. BE2001618), and is part of the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, No. 2002AA2Z3112.