Salehi Fahimeh, Behboudi Hossein, Salehi Elaheh, Ardestani Sussan K, Piroozmand Firoozeh, Kavoosi Gholamreza
Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Department of Biochemistry, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Faculty of Biology, Medicinal Plants and Drugs Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
Front Pharmacol. 2022 Sep 5;13:946161. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.946161. eCollection 2022.
essential oil (ZEO) is a natural complex of compounds with a high apoptotic potential against breast cancer cells and minor toxicity toward normal cells; however, similar to many essential oils, ZEO utilization in pharmaceutical industries has limitations due to its labile and sensitive ingredients. Nanoemulsification based on natural polymers is one approach to overcome this issue. In this study, an apple pectin-ZEO nanoemulsion (AP-ZEONE) was prepared and its morphology, FTIR spectra, and physical properties were characterized. Furthermore, it was shown that AP-ZEONE substantially suppresses the viability of MDA-MB-231, T47D, and MCF-7 breast cancer cells. AP-ZEONE significantly induced apoptotic morphological alterations and DNA fragmentation as confirmed by fluorescent staining and TUNEL assay. Moreover, AP-ZEONE induced apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells by loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm) associated with the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), G2/M cell cycle arrest, and DNA strand breakage as flow cytometry, DNA oxidation, and comet assay analysis revealed, respectively. Spectroscopic and computational studies also confirmed that AP-ZEONE interacts with genomic DNA in a minor groove/partial intercalation binding mode. This study demonstrated the successful inhibitory effect of AP-ZEONE on metastatic breast cancer cells, which may be beneficial in the therapy process.
香芹籽精油（ZEO）是一种天然化合物复合物，对乳腺癌细胞具有高凋亡潜力，对正常细胞毒性较小；然而，与许多精油类似，由于其成分不稳定且敏感，ZEO在制药行业的应用存在局限性。基于天然聚合物的纳米乳化是克服这一问题的一种方法。在本研究中，制备了苹果果胶-ZEO纳米乳液（AP-ZEONE），并对其形态、傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）和物理性质进行了表征。此外，研究表明AP-ZEONE能显著抑制MDA-MB-231、T47D和MCF-7乳腺癌细胞的活力。荧光染色和TUNEL分析证实，AP-ZEONE显著诱导凋亡形态改变和DNA片段化。此外，流式细胞术、DNA氧化和彗星试验分析分别显示，AP-ZEONE通过与活性氧（ROS）积累相关的线粒体膜电位（ΔΨm）丧失、G2/M细胞周期阻滞和DNA链断裂，诱导MDA-MB-231细胞凋亡。光谱和计算研究还证实，AP-ZEONE以小沟/部分嵌入结合模式与基因组DNA相互作用。本研究证明了AP-ZEONE对转移性乳腺癌细胞具有成功的抑制作用，这可能对治疗过程有益。
