Antioxidant activity in essential oils of Cnidium officinale makino and Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort and their inhibitory effects on DNA damage and apoptosis induced by ultraviolet B in mammalian cell.

BACKGROUND: Owing to their high volatile aroma, the dried rhizomes of Cnidium officinale (C. officinale) and Ligusticum chuanxiong (L. chuanxiong) are used as herbal drugs to treat blood pressure depressant, a deficiency disease of antivitamin, inhibition of small intestine sympathetic nerve and as cosmetics for skin care. However, little has been known about the protective effect of their essential oils against ultraviolet B (UVB)-induced DNA damage. METHODS: In this study, we report antioxidant activity of their essential oils using DPPH and ABTS scavenging assay. In addition, the composition of essential oils was measured by GC/MS. We also investigated whether these essential oils could inhibit UVB-induced DNA damage and apoptosis in the mammalian cell using intracellular DNA migration and expression level of phospho-H2A.X. RESULTS: Twenty constituents in the essential oil were identified and they showed good antioxidant properties, in that IC(50) value in DPPH and ABTS showed 6.79 and 7.33microg/ml and 1.58 and 1.58microg/ml in C. officinale and L. chuanxiong. Their treatment inhibited the migration of damaged DNA induced by UV-B; furthermore, they decreased p21 expression and increased cyclin D1 expression as apoptosis-regulatory genes. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that essential oils in C. officinale and L. chuanxiong may exert inhibitory effects on DNA damage and apoptosis induced by UVB through their high free radical scavenging ability.

Protective effect of the extracts from Cnidium officinale against oxidative damage induced by hydrogen peroxide via antioxidant effect.

The dried rhizomes of Cnidium officinale are used as herbal drugs in the treatment of pain, inflammation, menstrual disturbance and antivitamin deficiency disease, and also act as a blood pressure depressant. In addition, there are several reports suggesting that they have pharmacological properties to tumor metastasis and angiogenesis, and that they act as an inhibitor of high glucose-induced proliferation of glomerular mesangial cells. However, little has been known about the functional role of the extracts from C. officinale on oxidative DNA damage and apoptosis caused by ROS. In this work, we have investigated the DPPH radical, hydroxyl radical and intracellular ROS scavenging capacity, and Fe(2+) chelating activity of the extracts from C. officinale. In addition, we evaluated whether the extracts are capable of reducing H(2)O(2)-induced DNA and cell damage in the human skin fibroblast cell. These extracts showed a dose-dependent free-radical scavenging capacity and a protective effect on DNA damage and the lipid peroxidation causing the cell damage by ROS. These antioxidant activities and inhibitory effects of the extracts on DNA and cell damage may further explain that C. officinale is useful as a herbal medicine for cancer chemoprevention.