Carvacrol, the predominant monoterpene in many essential oils of Labitae including Origanum, Satureja, Thymbra, Thymus, and Corydothymus has substantial antibacterial, antifungal, antihelmintic, insecticial, analgesic and antioxidant activities. Approximately 75% of lung cancer is non-small cell carcinoma (NSCLC) which comprises several histologic types squamous cell, adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma. It was reported that the portion of lung tumors diagnosed as denocarcinoma has increased. Thus a human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell line, A549 was chosen for this study. To investigate the effects of carvacrol on cell morphology, apoptosis and total protein amount, the cells incubated with various concentration of carvacrol in DMSO for 24 h. In carvacrol applied A549 cell line, increase in dose of carvacrol caused a decrease in cell number, degeneration of cell morphology and a decrease in total protein amount. To characterize carvacrol induced changes in cell morphology, cells were examined by light microscopy. Cells were treated with carvacrol were seen to have detached from the disk, with cell rounding, cytoplasmic blebbing and irregularity in shape. The data demonstrate that carvacrol is very potent inhibitor of cell growth in A549 cell line.

This study investigates cytotoxic and genotoxic activities of (+)-Usnic acid and (-)-usnic acid isolated from the lichen Ramalina farinacea and the lichen Cladonia foliacea, respectively. To determine the activities of these acids, we used the MTT assay on V79 (Chinese hamster lung fibroblast like) and A549 (human lung carcinoma epithelial like) cell lines and cytokinesis-blocked micronucleus (CBMN) assay in human lymphocytes in vitro. Our results suggest that both enantiomers of usnic acid are non-genotoxic shown by the absence of micronucleus induction in human lymphocytes and have significant cytotoxic and apoptotic effects to induce cell killing in cultured human lymphocytes, V79 and A549 cell lines. Even low doses of (+)-usnic acid showed high cytotoxic activity against cancerous cells. The MTT results and cell proliferation index (CPI) values based on the CBMN test results are found in good agreement.

Carvacrol, the predominant monoterpene in many essential oils of Labitae including Origanum, Satureja, Thymbra, Thymus, and Corydothymus has substantial antibacterial, antifungal, antihelmintic, insecticial, analgesic and antioxidant activities. Approximately 75% of lung cancer is non-small cell carcinoma (NSCLC) which comprises several histologic types squamous cell, adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma. It was reported that the portion of lung tumors diagnosed as denocarcinoma has increased. Thus a human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell line, A549 was chosen for this study.To investigate the effects of carvacrol on cell morphology, apoptosis and total protein amount, the cells incubated with various concentration of carvacrol in DMSO for 24 h. In carvacrol applied A549 cell line, increase in dose of carvacrol caused a decrease in cell number, degeneration of cell morphology and a decrease in total protein amount. To characterize carvacrol induced changes in cell morphology, cells were examined by light microscopy. Cells were treated with carvacrol were seen to have detached from the disk, with cell rounding, cytoplasmic blebbing and irregularity in shape. The data demonstrate that carvacrol is very potent inhibitor of cell growth in A549 cell line.

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