Antineoplastic potential and chemical evaluation of essential oils from leaves and flowers of Tagetes ostenii Hicken.

Breast and cervical cancer represent a major problem of women's global public health. Here, we investigated the chemical composition of essential oils from leaves and flowers of T. ostenii and the antineoplastic potential in a cervical cancer and breast cancer cell line, SiHa and MCF-7; and non-tumoral cells, HaCat. The chemical analysis revealed a predominance of oxygenated monoterpenes in both essential oils. The IC50 after 24 h of treatment was 72 ng/mL for EO 1 and 83 ng/mL for EO 2 in SiHa cells. For MCF-7 the IC50 was 174.3 ng/mL for EO 1. For HaCat cells it was 54.45 ng/mL for EO 1 and 20.83 ng/mL for EO 2. A synergistic effect with both essential oils and cisplatin was also verified. SiHa cells had their wound healing capacity reduced after 48 h of treatment with EO 2 and both essential oils were able to significantly inhibit the adhesion process and clonogenic ability after 24 h of treatment. Our results suggest a long-lasting inhibitory activity in SiHa cells because of the low recovery capacity of cells after treatment withdrawal. Flow cytometer with annexin V/propidium iodide demonstrated a majority cell death through late apoptosis after 24, 48 and 72 hours of treatment.

The inhibitory effects of phenolic and terpenoid compounds from Baccharis trimera in Siha cells: differences in their activity and mechanism of action.

Baccharis trimera is used in folk medicine as a tea for digestive and liver diseases. It possesses anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that are related to the presence of phenolic compounds. The aim of this work was to investigate the anti-proliferative properties of phenolic (PHE) and terpenoid (SAP) compounds from B. trimera on human cervical cancer. The treatment of SiHa cells with PHE for 24 h suppressed colony formation in a dose-dependent manner, inhibited proliferation and inhibited cell motility. Although SAP inhibited the proliferation of SiHa cells in a dose-dependent manner, it increased colony formation and did not inhibit cell motility. PHE and SAP also promoted a significant increase in lactate dehydrogenase levels in the culture medium in a dose-dependent manner, indicating a loss of cell membrane integrity. Moreover, PHE promoted necrotic cell death, whereas SAP induced apoptosis. These compounds are new anticancer prototypes due their significant anticancer activity demonstrated herein.

Repeated stress effects on nociception and on ectonucleotidase activities in spinal cord synaptosomes of female rats.

It has been reported that animals submitted to repeated restraint stress present various adaptation responses which are dependent on the sex. These adaptations include changes in nociception and adenine nucleotide hydrolysis. In this study, we report the effect of chronic administration of a gonadal steroid (17beta-estradiol) on ATP, ADP and AMP hydrolysis in spinal cord synaptosomes of adult ovariectomized (OVX) Wistar rats submitted to repeated restraint stress over 40 days. We also measured nociceptive threshold in these animals using the tail-flick test. The results show that tail-flick latencies were decreased in both stressed groups, OVX and OVX rats receiving estradiol replacement therapy, indicating reduced nociceptive threshold after exposure to repeated stress. Repeated restraint stress caused no effect on ATPase or ADPase activities. On the other hand, AMP hydrolysis in spinal cord synaptosomes from repeatedly stressed rats was decreased in OVX rats compared to non-stressed OVX ones, indicating reduced extracellular adenosine production; this effect was reversed by hormonal replacement. These observations suggest that nociceptive sensitivity to noxious stimuli is affected by repeated stress and that modulation of neurotransmission by adenine nucleotides in spinal cord may be altered by the interaction of sexual hormones and psychological factors, such as exposure to stress.