Boldine Attenuates Cancer Cell Growth in an Experimental Model of Glioma In vivo

Plants are important sources of biologically active natural products which differ in terms of structure and biological properties. One of the biological activities of plant compounds that attracts great interest is the ability to exert anticancer activity in different cancer types. Boldine is a natural alkaloid that occurs abundantly in the leaves and bark of Peumus boldus. It has been demonstrated to present anticancer properties in bladder carcinoma and in glioma cancer cells in vitro. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of boldine in an in vivo experimental model of glioma and investigated some parameters of toxicity in healthy animals. Our results show that boldine did not cause any toxicity in the animals treated. In rats with implanted glioma and treated with boldine a significant reduction in tumor size was observed. Pathological analysis of implanted gliomas showed a reduction in the mitotic index as well as in other histological characteristics in boldine treated animals, indicating a less invasive and proliferative tumor. No change was observed in the VEGF expression in treated animals. Our results suggest that boldine could be a promise adjuvant therapy in the treatment of malignant gliomas