Abstract
Purpose : To investigate the most effective compound of C. ambrosioides essential oil for the induction of cell death in human breast cancer cells (MCF-7), and the mechanism of induction. Methods : MCF-7 cells were treated with essential oil and its two main components, 1-isopropyl-4- methylbenzene and α-terpinene, respectively, for 24 and 48 h in vitro. To determine their cytotoxicity on MCF-7 cells, in vitro cytotoxicity, 3-(4, 5-dimethylthaizol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and live/dead cell fluorescent staining were used. MCF-7 cellular superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) vitality and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were also evaluated. Results : MTT results showed that essential oil and its two main compositions significantly inhibited the growth of MCF-7 cells in 24 h (p < 0.05), which was consistent with the Live/dead cell fluorescent staining results. After 24 h incubation the average inhibition rate is 58.98 % for essential oil, 37.8 % for 1-isopropyl-4-methylbenzene and 32.09 % for α-terpinene. With increase in the concentration of essential oil and the two main components, the relative activity of SOD significantly decreased (p < 0.05), while the relative activity of CAT was gradually increased (p < 0.05), compared with control. MDA relative content significantly increased (p < 0.05) until the concentration was 1.25, 0.21 and 0.17 μg/ml for essential oil , 1-isopropyl-4-methylbenzene and α-terpinene , and thereafter significantly decreased (p < 0.05) , compared to control. Conclusion : The data suggest that the essential oil of C. ambrosioides and its two main components inhibit MCF-7 cell proliferation cell death by inducing oxidative damage. However, the two main components are less effective in their anticancer activity than the essential oil Keywords : Chenopodium ambrosioides L. Essential oil, 1-isopropyl-4-methylbenzene, α-Terpinene, Breast cancer MCF-7 cells, Antitumor activity
Highlights
Secondary metabolites of plants have been applied in medicine and pharmacology for hundreds years in history
Living cells give green fluorescence, whereas dead cells give red (Fig 2). These results show that the increment of dead cells was highly consistent with the increased concentration of essential oil, 1isopropyl-4-methylbenzene and α-terpinene
The results of this study showed that essential oil from C. ambrosioides and its two major components 1-isopropyl-4-methylbenzene and α-terpinene have inhibitory effects on the proliferation of human breast cancer cells MCF-7 with MTT assay
Summary
Secondary metabolites of plants have been applied in medicine and pharmacology for hundreds years in history. Chenopodium ambrosioides L. is commonly called ‘red Ze blue’, ‘Smelly grass’ or ‘Hookworm grass ’ in China,‘mastruz’ in Brazil and ‘epazote’ and ‘paico’ in other countries of America. It is an annual or perennial herbaceous shrub, and its whole plant is rich in essential oils [4]. Essential oil from C. ambrosioides is a complex of many components. It mainly contains monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and its oxygenated derivatives [9], but the proportion of these may be changed depending on the growth areas of C. ambrosioides. On the basis of our preliminary work, this study is aimed to explore the most effective ingredient for anticancer activity of essential oil from C. ambrosioides, and the potential anticancer mechanism
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