Assessing the cytotoxic/genotoxic activity and estrogenic/antiestrogenic potential of essential oils from seven aromatic plants.
Alternative therapies with new drugs are needed because the clinical efficacy of conventional chemotherapy is often reduced due to collateral effects. Many natural products of plant origin, including essential oils (EOs) have proved to be effective in prevention and therapy of several diseases such as bacterial infections, chronic diseases and cancer. In the present study, we investigated some biological activities of EOs extracted from seven plants: Rosmarinus officinalis, Salvia somalensis, Thymus vulgaris, Achillea millefolium, Helichrysum italicum, Pistacia lentiscus, Myrtus communis. In particular, we evaluated the cytotoxic and genotoxic activity using the cytochalasin B-blocked micronucleus assay (CBMN) in human peripheral lymphocytes, cytotoxicity in a human ovarian carcinoma cell line (A2780), and the estrogenic/antiestrogenic activity using a yeast strain expressing the human estrogen receptor alpha (ERα). Our results show that most EOs can have a strong cytotoxic and a slight/moderate genotoxic effect on human peripheral lymphocytes, and also a pronounced cytotoxic effect in A2780 cells. In addition, some EOs seem to have a marked antiestrogenic activity that could potentially perturb the estrogen-dependent tissues.
['Contini|Adele|A|', 'Di Bello|Domenica|D|', 'Azzarà|Alessia|A|', 'Giovanelli|Silvia|S|', "D'Urso|Giuseppina|G|", 'Piaggi|Simona|S|', 'Pinto|Barbara|B|', 'Pistelli|Luisa|L|', 'Scarpato|Roberto|R|', 'Testi|Serena|S|']
D031162:Achillea D000328:Adult D000970:Antineoplastic Agents D045744:Cell Line, Tumor D004249:DNA Damage D004965:Estrogen Antagonists D036562:Helichrysum D006801:Humans D015162:Micronucleus Tests D031651:Myrtus D009822:Oils, Volatile D064209:Phytochemicals D027927:Pistacia D010938:Plant Oils D027542:Rosmarinus D027544:Salvia D046930:Thymus Plant
Cytotoxicity Genotoxicity Essential oils Human lymphocytes