Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Anticancer effects of Chenopodium ambrosiodes L. essential oil on human breast cancer MCF-7 cells in vitro

Wang Ya-Nan , Wu Jia-Liang, Ma Dan-Wei, Li Jiao, Zhang Du-Yu

College of Life Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610101, China;

For correspondence:- Wang Ya-Nan Email: yanan.w@163.com Tel:+8602884480660

Received: 19 April 2015 Accepted: 4 September 2015 Published: 31 October 2015

Citation: Ya-Nan W, Jia-Liang W, Dan-Wei M, Jiao L, Du-Yu Z. Anticancer effects of Chenopodium ambrosiodes L. essential oil on human breast cancer MCF-7 cells in vitro. Trop J Pharm Res 2015; 14(10):1813-1820 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v14i10.11

© 2015 The authors.
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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, ^5;-Terpinene, Breast cancer MCF-7 cells, Antitumor activity