Evaluation of the anti-proliferative and cytostatic effect of Citrus sinensis (orange) fruit juice.

This work has been designed to evaluate the anti-proliferative and cytostatic effects of Citrus sinensis (orange) fruit juice on rapidly proliferating cells.The study was carried out on the seeds of Sorghum bicolor for 72 h. The mean radicle length (mm) of the seeds was taken at 48 and 72 h.The result showed that when compared with the control, methotrexate, the standard drug showed a significant (P < 0.001) anti-proliferative effect throughout the experiment. The inhibition of the radicle growth was more after 72 h (87.42%). At a dose of 5% (v/v), the juice showed a slightly significant (P < 0.05) effect affect after 72 h; however, there was no significant effect at 48 h. The juice at doses of 10% and 20% (v/v) showed a highly significant (P < 0.001) anti-proliferative effect throughout the experiment; however, the percentage inhibitions were higher at 72 h. At 72 h, the percentage inhibition for juice at 10% (v/v) was 72.37% and at 20% (v/v) was 91.96%. The concentrations of 40% and 60% (v/v) showed cytostatic effects as no appreciable growth of the radicles of the seeds was observed throughout the experiment. The percentage inhibition for 40% (v/v) was 100% and 99.72% for 48 and 72 h, respectively, while that for the juice concentration of 60% (v/v) was 100% throughout the study.The experiment has shown that C. sinensis fruit juice has a potential for causing both anti-proliferative and cytostatic effects on fast proliferating cells and hence cancerous cells.