Cytotoxic Efficacy of Indigo and Yellow 2G with Vitamin C on the HepG2 Cell Line

Abstract

We aimed to examine the effect of indigo and yellow 2G (Y2G) dyes, that are also commonly used as food additive and colorant, individually and combination with vitamin C on HepG2 human liver carcinoma cell line proliferation in vitro. MTT assay was applied to investigate the effect of dyes individually combined with vitamin C on HepG2 cells by treatment with different concentrations of these dyes for varying exposure times and performed. Regarding the exposure of HepG2 cells to indigo and Y2G dyes for 24, 48 and 72 h, 50 and 500 µg/ml (p=0.001 and p=0.003 respectively) of indigo at 24 h and 500 µg/ml (p=0.012) at 72 h; it showed that 5 µg/ml of Y2G for 24 h (p=0.004) and 1 µg/ml for 48 and 72 h (p=0.000, p=0.001) had the highest cytotoxic effect. Also, the results indicated that, especially the combinations of “indigo + vitamin C“ significantly increased cytotoxic effects on the HepG2 cell line (p=0.003). The obtained findings provide an exciting insight into the cytotoxic effects of indigo on HepG2 cells, and how they might work together to combat HCC's aggression.