Apoptosis assessment of the essential oil from the fruits of Pycnocycla bashagardiana Mozaff. in HT-29 cells: Association with expression Bcl-2 and Bax

Pycnocycla bashagardiana mozaff is a rare endemic species that has been used in folk medicine in South of Iran. It is commonly distributed in Jask County, Hormozgan Province. Due to the presence of myristicin as the major component (more than 65 % of oils)cytotoxicity and anti-cancer properties of P. bashagardiana essential oil are proposed. Colorectal cancer is the third most lethal cancer in men and fourth in women. So far, various drugs have been used to treat the disease, but because of the emergence of drug resistance to chemical drugs, the need to achieve the new natural compounds of medicinal plant derivatives is felt more active. Due to the presence of other substances, the herbal substance has a balanced biological state, so it does not accumulate in the body and has no side effects and can play an important role in the treatment of cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Pycnocycla Bashagardianaʼfruits cytotoxicity and anti-cancer on HT29 cells and L929 mouse fibroblast cells in vitro.In this study, the cytotoxicity effects of Pycnocycla Bashagardianaʼfruits at different concentrations on HT29 and normal L929 cells were monitored at 48 h by MTT assay and trypan blue exclusion and Flow Cytometric Analysis of Apoptosis(Annexin-V-FITC). The expression levels of Bax and Bcl2 in HT29 cells and normal L929 cells were detected using quantitative Real- time PCR (qRT-PCR)Pycnocycla Bashagardianaʼfruits has cytotoxic effects depending on concentration and time. IC50 values were observed at a concentration of 430 μg / ml in the HT29 and 450μg / ml in L929 cell line and the essential oils induced apoptotic cell death 77.3 % for the HT29 cells in IC50 and 3.4% for normal cells (L929) in IC50 .The relative expression levels of Bax and Bcl2 were significantly higher in HT29 cells than in the normal cells (p < 0.01).Comparison of IC50 values suggests that the Pycnocycla Bashagardianaʼfruits has toxicity in cancerous cells and normal cells,but can induced apoptotic cell death in cancerous cell more than normal cells.