The Anticancer, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Properties of the Sesquiterpene β-Caryophyllene from the Essential Oil of Aquilaria crassna

Abstract

Abstract:The present study reports a bioassay-guided isolation of β-caryophyllene from the essential oil of Aquilaria crassna. The structure of β-caryophyllene was confirmed using FT-IR, NMR and MS. The antimicrobial effect of β-caryophyllene was examined using human pathogenic bacterial and fungal strains. Its anti-oxidant properties were evaluated by DPPH and FRAP scavenging assays. The cytotoxicity of β-caryophyllene was tested against seven human cancer cell lines. The corresponding selectivity index was determined by testing its cytotoxicity on normal cells. The effects of β-caryophyllene were studied on a series of in vitro antitumor-promoting assays using colon cancer cells. Results showed OPEN ACCESSMolecules 2015, 20 11809 that β-caryophyllene demonstrated selective antibacterial activity against S. aureus (MIC 3 ± 1.0 µM) and more pronounced anti-fungal activity than kanamycin. β-Caryophyllene also displayed strong antioxidant effects. Additionally, β-caryophyllene exhibited selective anti-proliferative effects against colorectal cancer cells (IC50 19 µM). The results also showed that β-caryophyllene induces apoptosis via nuclear condensation and fragmentation pathways including disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential. Further, β-caryophyllene demonstrated potent inhibition against clonogenicity, migration, invasion and spheroid formation in colon cancer cells. These results prompt us to state that β-caryophyllene is the active principle responsible for the selective anticancer and antimicrobial activities of A. crassnia. β-Caryophyllene has great potential to be further developed as a promising chemotherapeutic agent against colorectal malignancies.

Antiproliferative, Antioxidative and Compounds Identification from Methanolic Extract of Passiflora Foetida and Its Fractions

“…Many studies have proven that extracts with antioxidant effects were also reported to have anticancer properties [29,[32][33][34][35]. This statement is in agreement with the current findings.…”

Antiproliferative and apoptotic activity of Crude Skin Secretion from Malaysian Toad (Bufo asper) on in vitro colorectal cancer cells.

“…Previous observation on the studies of Chinese toad Bufo gargarizans skin formulation (Chan Sue) was found to induce apoptosis in several human cancer cell lines such as (T24) human bladder carcinoma cells (Ko et al, 2005), (A549) human lung carcinoma (Yun et al, 2009). (HepG2) Hepatocarcinoma cells (Lu et al, 2011), (NHL) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and (SP53) mantle cell lymphoma (Efuet et al, 2015). In order to obtain deeper insight into the apoptotic effect of TSS, the mitochondrial membrane potential was examined by staining the cells with lipophilic cationic dye rhodamine123 which can be easily absorbed by the mitochondria of live cells.…”

“…Detection of the changes in mitochondrial membrane potential in HCT 116 cells treated with TSS extract was assessed by the retention of Rhodamine 123 fluorescent dye following previous protocol (Dahham et al, 2015). Normally, the dye interacts with the inner mitochondrial negatively charged membrane and accumulates in normal mitochondria, but the reduction of mitochondrial membrane leads to the dye leakage which will result in reducing the fluorescence intensity.…”

Terpenes from Forests and Human Health

“…α-Caryophyllene, known as humulene, is a naturally occurring monocyclic sesquiterpene. BCP, an isomer of α-caryophyllene, has been identified as an active component of an essential oil mixture that not only prevents solid tumor growth and proliferation of cancer cell lines but also inhibits lymph node metastasis of melanoma cells in high-fat diet-induced obese mice (78,79). Sarvmeili et al (80) reported that Pinus eldarica essential oil, of which BCP was the major component, exerts cytotoxic effects on HeLa and MCF-7 cell lines.…”