Tannic acid which was found earlier to have growth suppressive activity against cultured tumor cells, was given to Balb/c mice p.o. The mice had been inoculated with syngeneic tumor cells (Meth/A) ip. When tannic acid was suspended in drinking wafer and given daily at doses of approximately 875 mg/kg/day and 1750 mg/kg/day, the respective survival rates were 59% and 48% with that of the control mice being 29%.
To study the cytotoxicity of tannic acid, we administered the tannic acid to mice at 875 and 1750 mg/kg/day for 35 days. The weight gain for each dose was lower than that of the control, although the difference was not significant. When tannic acid was given at 8750 mg/kg/day: the weighs gain was significantly lower than the control. A histologic study did not show any pathological findings in the kidney, liver, or lungs in the mice given tannic acid at the above doses.