Biological effects of essential oils and extracts
F. Mashhadi; M. Ghorbani Nohooji; R. Yaraee
Abstract
Plants from the fam. lamiaceae are the rich sources of medicinal compounds with the anticancer properties. In many studies, only the anticancer properties of these compounds have been investigated and their toxicity on the healthy cells has not been addressed. The present study was designed to evaluate ...
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Plants from the fam. lamiaceae are the rich sources of medicinal compounds with the anticancer properties. In many studies, only the anticancer properties of these compounds have been investigated and their toxicity on the healthy cells has not been addressed. The present study was designed to evaluate and compare the toxic effects of Origanum vulgare L. and O. majorana L. essential oils on the cancer cells line BCL-1 and normal lymphocytes and macrophages under in vitro conditions. The plant samples essential oils were extracted using the hydro-distillation method and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The cancer cells line BCL-1 and normal lymphocytes and macrophages were cultured with the various concentrations of essential oils for 24h. The viability and cells toxicity under the influence of essential oils were determined by the MTT and LDH assays. The GC/MS results showed that the two essential oils had only 12 common components. Both essential oils inhibited the growth of cancer cells line BCL-1 (O. vulgare, 47-79% and O. majorana, 30-82%) at a concentration of 0.01-1% (O. vulgare essential oil IC50: 0.01% and O. majorana essential oil IC50: 0.03%). The essential oils at the highest concentration (1%) did not decrease the immune cells viability. Also, according to the LDH test results, none of the concentrations of both essential oils had a toxic effect on the normal lymphocytes and macrophages. Overall, based on the present study results, the O. vulgare and O. majorana essential oils could be recommended as good candidates for the cancer treatment because they had no cytotoxic effect on the normal immune system cells in addition to having the strong anticancer properties.
R. Yaraee; T. Ghazanfari; M. Naseri; S. Fallahnejad; M. Eghtedardoost
Abstract
Immune system participates in etiology and pathophysiology of numerous diseases. Modulation of immune responses including humoral immune responses has been considered as a useful approach in control and disease treatments and immunomodulators can be effective in this regard. Herbal drugs are known as ...
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Immune system participates in etiology and pathophysiology of numerous diseases. Modulation of immune responses including humoral immune responses has been considered as a useful approach in control and disease treatments and immunomodulators can be effective in this regard. Herbal drugs are known as a source of immunomodulators. In this study the effect of MS14, a herbal – marine preparation, on humoral immune response in animal model is considered. MS14 have been orally administered (50 and 100 mg/kg) to 6-8 weeks old female Balb/C mice 5 days, the mice were immunized once using SRBC and were bled at day 6 (primary humoral response). Alternatively the mice were immunized multiple times during two weeks for secondary immune response in control group and MS14 (100 mg/kg). Serial dilutions of serum were prepared and agglutination test was performed using SRBC for primary and secondary sera. Serum IgG level in secondary sera has been determined by sandwich ELISA test. Antibody titer of primary serum was significantly reduced in agglutination test (the mean titer of antibody was 44.571 in control group and 27.6 in 50 mg/kg of MS14 and 7.33 in 100 mg/kg of MS14). Although, a little reduction has been observed in level of agglutinating antibody titer for secondary serum, but the reduction was not statistically significant (the mean titer of antibody was 25.6 in control group and 11.2 in MS14 group). Serum IgG level in control and MS14 group was not statistically significant as well (374.9 ng/ml in control and 382.1ng/ml in MS14 group). It can be concluded that MS14 possibly induces part of its immunomodulatory effect by reducing the production of IgM in primary humoral response but it has not any effect on IgG production in secondary humoral response.