Abstract
BackgroundViolacein is a purple pigment from Chromobacterium violaceum that possesses diverse biological and pharmacological properties. Among these, pro-oxidant and antioxidant activities have been suggested. However, the cytotoxic mechanisms induced by violacein are poorly understood and the improvement in knowledge regarding these cell death mechanisms will be useful to develop new therapeutic approaches. Considering this, in our work, we investigated the pro-oxidant effects of violacein in non-tumor (CHO-K1 and MRC-5) and tumor (HeLa) cell lines, searching for a better understanding of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and cell death induction.ResultsCytotoxicity induced by violacein was observed in the three cell lines; however, MRC-5 and HeLa cells were shown to be more sensitive to violacein treatment. Although punctual alterations in the antioxidant apparatus and increase in oxidative stress biomarkers was observed in some violacein concentrations, no association was found between increased oxidative stress and induction of cell death. However, the increase of mitochondrial membrane potential was observed.ConclusionsIn fact, the increase of mitochondrial membrane potential in MRC-5 and HeLa cells suggests that mitochondrial membrane hyperpolarization might be the main cause of cell death triggered by violacein.
Highlights
Violacein is a purple pigment from Chromobacterium violaceum that possesses diverse biological and pharmacological properties
Violacein induced loss of cell viability and cell death by necrosis or apoptosis Thecell viability data obtained using the Trypan blue dye exclusion method showed that, after incubation with violacein for 24 h, MRC-5 and HeLa cells exhibited nearly 60 % of cell viability when exposed to 6 μM violacein
Cells treated with violacein were stained with Annexin-V and propidium iodide (PI) for necrosis detection [17, 18]
Summary
Violacein is a purple pigment from Chromobacterium violaceum that possesses diverse biological and pharmacological properties. Violacein is a purple pigment produced by Chromobacterium violaceum, a betaproteobacteria commonly found in tropical and sub-tropical regions This pigment has attracted interest owing to its several biological and pharmacological activities, including antibiotic [1,2,3], antitumoral [4,5,6], antileishmanial [7], antiviral [8, 9], antiprotozoal and antiparasitary [10,11,12], immunomodulatory, analgesic and antipyretic [13], anti-diarrheal and ulcerprotective effects [14]. The antioxidant activity of violacein has been studied in distinct models, as a scavenger of nitrogen reactive species, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals.
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