The Antitumour Effect of Prunella vulgaris Extract on Thyroid Cancer Cells In Vitro and In Vivo

Figure 3

PVE inhibited tumour growth in a subcutaneous xenotransplanted tumour model. ((a), (b)) Macroscopic appearance of mice and tumours in different treatment groups after 2 weeks of PVE treatment (n = 7/group). Group a 0 mg/mL; group b 125 mg/mL; group c 250 mg/mL; group d 500 mg/mL. During the administration period, a mouse in group c died of asphyxia after gavage on the first day of administration. (c) Changes in mouse body weight at different groups were not statistically significant. (d) Tumour volumes of mice at groups c and d after 14-day administration presented a remarkable decline compared to group a. (e) Tumour weights of mice at PVE treatment groups (b, c, d) presented a significant decrease compared to group a. (f) HE staining was used to detect the histopathological features of tumour tissues. Upper pictures presented tumour tissues at low magnification, while bottom pictures presented corresponding magnified views. The black arrow points to infiltrating tumour parenchyma, while the red arrow points to tumour cells showing typically disordered mitosis. All data are presented as the mean ± SD. One-way ANOVA was performed to identify statistically significant differences ( and ).

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