Affiliation:
1. Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology (FaBiT), University of Bologna, Via Irnerio 48, 40126 Bologna, Italy
2. Department of Chemistry “G. Ciamician”, University of Bologna, Via Gobetti 83, 40129 Bologna, Italy
3. National Institute of Biostructures and Biosystems, Via delle Medaglie d’Oro 305, 00136 Rome, Italy
Abstract
γ-terpinene, α-terpinene, p-cymene, and myrcene are monoterpenes found in many essential oils extracted from a variety of plants and spices. Myrcene also occurs naturally in plants such as hops, cannabis, lemongrass, and verbena and is used as a flavoring agent in food and beverage manufacturing. In this research, the biological efficacy of γ-terpinene, α-terpinene, p-cymene, and myrcene was studied in human cell lines (HeLa, SH-SY5Y, and HDFa). Cytotoxicity, cell proliferation, cell migration, and morphology assays were performed to obtain detailed information on the anticancer properties. Our results show that myrcene has potential biological activity, especially in HeLa cells. In this cell line, it leads to an arrest of proliferation, a decrease in motility and morphological changes with loss of sphericity and thickness, and DNA damage. In addition, the interaction of γ-terpinene, α-terpinene, p-terpinene, and myrcene with calf thymus DNA (ct-DNA) was studied by UV-visible spectrophotometry. DNA binding experiments show that only myrcene can interact with DNA with an apparent dissociation constant (Kd) of 29 × 10−6 M.
Funder
Alma Mater Studiorum—Università di Bologna
Subject
Chemistry (miscellaneous),Analytical Chemistry,Organic Chemistry,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry,Molecular Medicine,Drug Discovery,Pharmaceutical Science