A promising oral anticancer of hexadecanoic acid on genotoxicity evaluation of micronuclei and apoptosis induction

Micronuclei serve as a biomarker of cancer cell due to genetic mutations and an indicator of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage. The aim of this study to examine the effect of hexadecanoic acid in Musa paradisiaca (MP) as anticancer by reducing the frequency of micronuclei and inducing apoptosis.. Twenty male rats were divided into five groups. Negative control was given aquades orally (K-) and positive control was induced with 0.5% DMBA (K+). In addition, the treatment groups were induced with 0.5% DMBA and given ethanol extract of MP (EEMP) at doses of 1 mg/kgBW/day (EEMP1), 2 mg/kgBW/day (EEMP2), and 4 mg/kgBW/day (EEMP3), respectively. DMBA was applied to the buccal mucosa for 14 weeks, followed by the administration of EEMP orally after nodules appeared for 10 days. MN examination was carried out using the papanicolaou method, while apoptosis was assessed using the TUNEL assay. Oral administration of EEMP at a dose of 4 mg/kg BW for 10 days in rats showed a lower frequency of MN compared to other groups with significant difference at p=0.000 (p<0.05). In addition, EEMP dose of 4 mg/kgBW increased apoptosis of epithelial cell that transformed towards malignancy, as showed by green-stained epithelial cell (TdT) with significant different at p=0.000 (p<0.05), and the green-stained cell exhibited a linear increase with the increasing dose. The administration of EEMP could reduce the frequency of MN in DMBA-induced precancerous lesions of the buccal mucosa. The decrease in MN was caused by EEMP through the enhancement of apoptosis, which prevented oral cancer.