Antiproliferative and apoptotic effects of spanish honeys.
BACKGROUND
Current evidence supports that consumption of polyphenols has beneficial effects against numerous diseases mostly associated with their antioxidant activity. Honey is a good source of antioxidants since it contains a great variety of phenolic compounds.


OBJECTIVE
The main objective of this work was to investigate the antiproliferative and apoptotic effects of three crude commercial honeys of different floral origin (heather, rosemary and polyfloral honey) from Madrid Autonomic Community (Spain) as well as of an artificial honey in human peripheral blood promyelocytic leukemia cells (HL-60).


METHODS
HL-60 cells were cultured in the presence of honeys at various concentrations for up to 72 hours and the percentage of cell viability was evaluated by MTT assay. Apoptotic cells were identified by chromatin condensation and flow cytometry analysis. ROS production was determined using 2´,7´-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA).


RESULTS
The three types of crude commercial honey induced apoptosis in a concentration and time dependent-manner. In addition, honeys with the higher phenolic content, heather and polyfloral, were the most effective to induce apoptosis in HL-60 cells. However, honeys did not generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) and N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) could not block honeys-induced apoptosis in HL-60 cells.


CONCLUSIONS
These data support that honeys induced apoptosis in HL-60 cells through a ROS-independent cell death pathway. Moreover, our findings indicate that the antiproliferative and apoptotic effects of honey varied according to the floral origin and the phenolic content.
Department of Food Nutrition and Technology, Veterinarian Faculty, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain.
Paloma
P
Morales
Ana Isabel
AI
Haza
Antioxidants; Antiproliferative; Apoptosis; Honey; Reactive oxygen species