Pharmacological Studies With Tea Root Extract With Special Reference To Its Antineoplastic Properties

The pharmacological properties of tea have been well studied and it is a well established fact that tea and its several components possess anti-hyperglycemic, hypocholesterolemic, anti-ulcer and anti-carcinogenic effects. Information from the tea gardens reveals that the tea plants remain viable for 30-100 years, depending upon the location, after which the trees are uprooted and the branches and roots are used mainly as fire wood and occasionally for making ornamental furniture. Since tea, both black and green, has been reported to contain a number of chemical constituents with remarkable medicinal values, it was felt that tea root also should be a store house of chemicals of biological and medicinal interest. Preliminary work carried out with tea root extract in our laboratory revealed that tea root extract and two of the triterpene saponins named as TS1 and TS2 isolated from the its butanolic fraction possessed potent anti-carcinogenic and antioxidant activities. In the present study detailed investigations have been carried out with crude tea root extract as well as with its triterpinoid saponins to establish their in vivo and in vitro anti-neoplastic activities as well as some other pharmacological activities