Area of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Seville, Profesor García González No. 2, 41012 Seville, Spain.
Area of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Seville, Profesor García González No. 2, 41012 Seville, Spain.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2014 Feb;64:281-90. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2013.12.005. Epub 2013 Dec 8.
Essential oils used as additives in the food industry due to its flavour, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Therefore, human can be exposed orally to these compounds through the ingestion of foods. In this sense, the present work aims to assess toxicological effects of oregano essential oil on the digestive tract. In concrete, the cytotoxic effects of two components of the oregano essential oils, carvacrol and thymol, and their mixture, on the intestinal cells line Caco-2 after 24 and 48 h of exposure are studied. The basal cytotoxicity endpoints assayed (total protein content, neutral red uptake and the tetrazolium salt reduction) and the annexin/propidium iodide staining indicated that carvacrol and the mixture carvacrol/thymol induced toxic effects. Moreover, a morphological study was performed in order to determine the ultrastructural cellular damages caused by these substances. The main morphological alterations were vacuolated cytoplasm, altered organelles and finally cell death. In addition, although no cytotoxic effects were recorded for thymol at any concentration and time of exposure, ultrastructural changes evidenced cellular damage such as lipid degeneration, mitochondrial damage, nucleolar segregation and apoptosis.
由于其风味、抗菌和抗氧化特性，精油被用作食品工业中的添加剂。因此，人类可以通过摄入食物而从口腔接触到这些化合物。从这个意义上说，本工作旨在评估牛至精油对消化道的毒理学影响。具体而言，研究了牛至精油的两种成分（香芹酚和百里酚）及其混合物在暴露 24 和 48 小时后对肠道细胞系 Caco-2 的细胞毒性作用。测定的基础细胞毒性终点（总蛋白含量、中性红摄取和四唑盐还原）和 Annexin/碘化丙啶染色表明香芹酚和香芹酚/百里酚混合物引起了毒性作用。此外，进行了形态学研究，以确定这些物质引起的超微结构细胞损伤。主要的形态改变是细胞质空泡化、细胞器改变，最后是细胞死亡。此外，尽管在任何浓度和暴露时间下都没有记录到百里酚的细胞毒性作用，但超微结构变化表明细胞损伤，如脂质变性、线粒体损伤、核仁分离和细胞凋亡。
