Abstract
Purpose: To evaluate the cytotoxic effect of essential oil derived from Chenopodium ambrosioides L. in Sichuan Province on human liver cancer SMMC-7721 cells, as well as its possible molecular mechanisms.Methods: Cytotoxicity was characterized by MTT assay and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of SMMC-7721 cells ultrastructure. The apoptotic effect of the essential oil was evaluated by changes in mitochondrial membrane potential and Western blot assay.Results: MTT assay data indicate that the essential oil was cytotoxic to SMMC-7721 cells, while TEN revealed that there were vacuoles and nucleus fragmentation in the SMMC-7721 cell cytosol, cell swelling, and a large amount of leakage. Mitochondrial membrane potential assay and Western Blot data indicate that the essential oil induced cell apoptosis.Conclusion: The essential oil of Chenopodium ambrosioides L. in Sichuan Province seems to induce apoptosis of human liver cancer SMMC-7721 cells via the mitochondrial-mediated pathway and endoplasmic reticulum stress. Thus, this plant requires further investigation as a potential source of ananti-liver cancer drug.
 Keywords: Chenopodium ambrosioides Essential oil; Anti-tumor activity, Liver cancer Apoptosis, SMMC-7721 cells
Highlights
Traditional medicinal plants are natural sources of bioactive compounds, which can be used as food additives, and are used as ingredients in functional foods and nutritional products in health promotion [1]
It has been reported that whether the C. ambrosioides essential oil and flavanoids are cytotoxic to SMMC-7721 cells [6] and MCF-7 cells and induce apoptosis in such cells [7]
With increase of essential oil concentration, the number of late apoptotic cells increased. This indicates that the essential oil can lead to apoptosis of SMMC-7721 cells
Summary
Traditional medicinal plants are natural sources of bioactive compounds, which can be used as food additives, and are used as ingredients in functional foods and nutritional products in health promotion [1]. This study, further explores the molecular mechanism of apoptosis induced by the essential oil of C. ambrosioides in SMMC-7721 cells. C. ambrosioides plants were gathered from the street of Jingju Temple, Chengdu, Sichuan in September 2016 and confirmed as C. ambrosioides by Dr Ma Danwei, College of Life Science, Sichuan Normal University, China It is stored in the Cell Biology Laboratory of the Evaluation of cytotoxicity. Single-layer SMMC-7721 cells were incubated in the presence and absence of the essential oil derived from C. ambrosioides at various concentrations. After 20 h of incubation, the cells were transferred into in 4 mL fresh RPMI-1640 culture-medium containing C. ambrosioides essential oil of 100 μg/mL. SMMC-7721 cells (3 × 105/mL) were grown in six-orifice plates, with increasing concentration of essential oil (12.5, 50, 100 μg/mL) and processed, as above.
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