Georgantopoulos Achilleas, Vougioukas Athanasios, Kalousi Foteini D, Tsialtas Ioannis, Psarra Anna-Maria G
Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Thessaly, Biopolis, 41500 Larissa, Greece.
Life (Basel). 2023 Jul 10;13(7):1534. doi: 10.3390/life13071534.
Essential oils (EOs) are well-known for their anti-fungal, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and relaxing activities. Steroid hormones, especially glucocorticoids, are also well-known for their anti-inflammatory activities and control of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and glucose homeostasis. The biological activities of glucocorticoids render them the most widely prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs, despite their adverse side effects. In this study, comparative studies of the anti-inflammatory activities and interference with glucocorticoids receptor (GR) and estrogen receptor (ER) signaling of EOs from Greek Oregano, , Lavender and from the Chios Mastic, produced from the Greek endemic mastic tree, were performed in Human Embryonic Kidney 293 (HEK-293) cells. Chios Mastic (Mastiha) and oregano EOs exhibited the highest anti-inflammatory activities. The former showed a reduction in both NF-κB activity and protein levels. Mastic essential oil also caused a reduction in GR protein levels that may compensate for its boosting effect on dexamethasone (DEX)-induced GR transcriptional activation, ending up in no induction of the gluconeogenic phoshoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) protein levels that constitute the GR target. Oregano, and lavender EOs caused the suppression of the transcriptional activation of GR. Furthermore, the most active EO, that taken from , showed a reduction in both GR and PEPCK protein levels. Thus, the anti-inflammatory and anti-gluconeogenic activities of the EOs were uncovered, possibly via the regulation of GR signaling. Moreover, cytotoxic actions of and lavender EOs via the induction of mitochondrial-dependent apoptosis were revealed. Our results highlight these essentials oils' anti-inflammatory and apoptotic actions in relation to their implication on the regulation of steroid hormones' actions, uncovering their potential use in steroid therapy, with many applications in pharmaceutical and health industries as anti-cancer, anti-hyperglycemic and anti-inflammatory supplements.
精油（EOs）因其抗真菌、抗微生物、抗炎和舒缓活性而闻名。类固醇激素，尤其是糖皮质激素，也因其抗炎活性以及对下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（HPA）轴和葡萄糖稳态的控制而闻名。尽管糖皮质激素有不良副作用，但它们的生物学活性使其成为处方最广泛的抗炎药物。在本研究中，对来自希腊牛至、薰衣草以及希腊特有乳香树产生的希俄斯乳香的精油的抗炎活性以及对糖皮质激素受体（GR）和雌激素受体（ER）信号传导的干扰进行了比较研究，实验在人胚肾293（HEK-293）细胞中进行。希俄斯乳香和牛至精油表现出最高的抗炎活性。前者显示核因子κB（NF-κB）活性和蛋白水平均降低。乳香精油还导致GR蛋白水平降低，这可能抵消了其对地塞米松（DEX）诱导的GR转录激活的增强作用，最终未诱导构成GR靶点的糖异生磷酸烯醇式丙酮酸羧激酶（PEPCK）蛋白水平。牛至、薰衣草精油导致GR转录激活受到抑制。此外，活性最高的精油（来自牛至）显示GR和PEPCK蛋白水平均降低。因此，精油的抗炎和抗糖异生活性可能是通过调节GR信号传导而被发现的。此外，牛至和薰衣草精油通过诱导线粒体依赖性凋亡表现出细胞毒性作用。我们的研究结果突出了这些精油在调节类固醇激素作用方面的抗炎和凋亡作用，揭示了它们在类固醇治疗中的潜在用途，在制药和健康行业有许多应用，可作为抗癌、抗高血糖和抗炎补充剂。
