The Anticancer Effects of Tetrodotoxin Derived from Lagocephalus sceleratus, a Masked Puffer Fish, on the Muscle of Albino Mice with Ehrlich Solid Carcinoma

The objective of the current study was to evaluate the anticancer effect of tetraodotoxin (TTX), which was isolated from the masked puffer fish Lagocephalus sceleratus, on the muscle tumor of albino mice that were carrying Ehrlish Solid Carcinoma (ESC). Commercial captures at the Attaka fishing harbor in the Suez Governorate, Egypt, provided samples of L. sceleratus. Ten days after Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma (EAC) cells were injected into the mice's thigh, Ehrlich Solid Carcinoma (ESC) tumors developed in the mice. ESC-bearing mice were given extracted TTX in nine equal doses over the course of three weeks. Results showed an abnormal histological structure of the skeletal muscle’s thigh of ESC bearing mice at zero day of experiment, increasing of aggressive colonies of carcinoma neoplastic cells forming tumor masses in the connective tissue between muscle bundles leading to atrophy in these muscle fibers, increasing the space between fibers and degeneration of these muscle fibers. These histopathological alterations increased leading to a complete damage in muscular tissues and forming multi-tumor masses of neoplastic cells, which distributed and colonized along all the tissue. The treatment of ESC bearing mice with TTX for 21 days after zero day of experiment showed well defined improvement in muscular tissues, recovery of muscle fibers, reduction in the number of carcinoma neoplastic tumor’s cells, and disappearance of tumor mass colonies. This study concluded that TTX administration had a strong inhibitory effect on the growth of Ehrlich Solid Carcinoma tumors in mice over a short term (three weeks). However, TTX may have a reversible effect with prolonged exposure.