title: Evaluation of the cytotoxic effects ofCyperus longusextract, fractions and its essential oil on the PC3 and MCF7 cancer cell lines.
abstract: Cyperus longus is one of the Iranian endemic species. However, to date, and to the best of our knowledge, there are no availale academic reports on the cytotoxicity of this plant. Thus, this study was carried out to examine thein vitroanti-proliferative and anti-apoptotic effects of Cyperus longus extract, fractions and essential oil (EO) on MCF7 and PC3 cell lines. The chemical constituents of EO were identified using gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS) analysis. The cells were cultured in RPMI-1640 medium and incubated with various concentrations of the plant extract and fractions. Cell viability was quantified by MTT assay following 24, 48 and 72 h of exposure to (12.5-200 µg/ml) of the methanol extract, the dichloromethane (CH2Cl2), ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and water fractions, as well as the EO of the plant. The percentage of apoptotic cells was determined using propidium iodide staining of DNA fragments by flow cytometry (sub-G1 peak). The most effective fraction in the MCF7 cell line was the CH2Cl2fraction (IC50after 48 h, 25.34±2.01). The EtOAc fraction (IC50after 48 h, 35.2±2.69) and the methanol extract (IC50after 48 h, 64.64±1.64) were also found to be effective. The IC50values obtained for the PC3 cell line were 37.97±3.87, 51.57±3.87 and 70.33±2.36 for the CH2Cl2fraction, the EtOAc fraction and the methanol extract, respectively. Based on these data and due to the partial polarity of the most effective fraction (the CH2Cl2fraction), we also examined the cytotoxicity of the plant EO. The IC50values after 48 h were 22.25±4.25 and 12.55±3.65 in the PC3 and MCF7 cell lines, respectively. DNA fragmentation assay also confirmed these data. Performing GC-MS analysis for the plant EO revealed that β-himachalene (10.81%), α-caryophyllene oxide (7.6%), irisone (4.78%), β-caryophyllene oxide (4.36%), humulene oxide (12%), viridiflorol (4.73%), aristolone (6.39%) and longiverbenone (6.04%) were the main constituents. Our results demonstrated that two of the constituents of Cyperus longus, viridiflorol and longiverbenone, should be investigated further as possible promising chemotherapeutic agents in cancer treatment.
authors.affiliation: Central Research Laboratory, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran.
authors.forename: Toktam
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Memariani
authors.affiliation: Department of General Health, School of Health Sciences, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran.
authors.forename: Toktam
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.affiliation: Targeted Drug Delivery Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kamali
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Natural Products and Medicinal Plants, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran.
authors.forename: Ameneh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mohammadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghorbani
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran.
authors.forename: Abdoreza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shakeri
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Clinical Virology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: Demetrios A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Spandidos
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Sciences and Toxicology, School of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: Aristidis M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Tsatsakis
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Natural Products and Medicinal Plants, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran; Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, School of Medicine, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran.
authors.forename: Shabnam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shahsavand
keywords: Cyperus longus; MTT; apoptosis; cancer; cytotoxicity; longiverbenone; viridiflorol