Title

Assessment of Satureja montana L. and Mentha piperita L. Antioxidant Activity, Cytotoxicity and Pattern of Apoptotic Gene Expression in Hepatoma Cells.

Authors

El makawy, Aida I.; Ibrahim, Faten M.; Abdel-Aziem, Sekena H.

Abstract

This study is intended to assess the Satureja montana L. and Mentha piperita L. var. citrata antiradical potential and elucidate their molecular mechanisms underlying the cytotoxic induction in HepG2 cells. The total phenolic and flavonoids of the selected plants were determined. Their antioxidant activity was evaluated using 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazylhydrate (DPPH?), 2,2'-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS ) radicals and reducing power. The HepG2 cells were incubated with tested compounds at different concentrations ranging between 12.5 and 200µg/mL. Cytotoxicity was measured by MTT and the mRNA expression of Bcl-2, Bax and caspase-3 genes were estimated using Semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The results revealed that the S. montana and M. piperita aqueous extracts have high content of phenolic 188.2 ± 1.3 and 183.2 ± 0.9 mg GA/g and flavonoid 95.01±2.29 and 144.13±0.73 mg quercetin/g compounds. While their essential oils contain phenolic compounds 290.8 ± 1.4 and 9.2 ± 5.6 mg GA/g only. In vitro assays revealed a strong radical scavenging potential of the S. montana L. and M. piperita L. essential oils against stable DPPH?, ABTS and reducing power showing the highest radical quenching activity compared with the aqueous extracts. In addition, the extracts and oils of the two tested plants showed a concentration-dependent increase in growth inhibition against HepG2 cell line. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR established that either S. montana or M. piperita up-regulated HepG2 Bax and caspase-3 mRNA expression and down-regulated Bcl-2. Greater variation in Bax, Bcl-2 and caspase-3 expression were visible in the oils rather than the extracts. The decrease in Bcl-2, rise in Bax and lastly, the stimulation of caspase-3 in HepG2 cells indicated the irreversible apoptotic process. Accordingly, the results confirmed that selected plants have an antioxidant potential and apoptosis ability via the activation of mitochondrial apoptotic pathways.

Subjects

PEPPERMINT; GENE expression; SAVORY (Herb); HEPATOCELLULAR carcinoma; ESSENTIAL oils; PHENOLS; PLANT mitochondria

Publication

Jordan Journal of Biological Sciences, 2019, Vol 12, Issue 3, p251

ISSN

1995-6673

Publication type

Academic Journal