Inhibitory effects of carvacrol on DMBA induced pulmonary tumorigenesis in rats

Abstract

Essential oils of various plant species rich in carvacrol have several ethnomedical uses for various diseases in Turkey. Carvacrol, which was obtained by fractional distillation of Origanun onites L essential oil was tested for lung tumors induced by DMBA in rats in vivo and it was found to have strong antitumor activity at 0.1 mg·kg-1 i.p. Although the mechanism of action of antitumor activity of carvacrol was not investigated in this study, evidences for an inhibitory effect on angiogenesis were observed.