Comparison of the anticancer effect of microalgal oils and microalgal oil-loaded electrosprayed nanoparticles against PC-3, SHSY-5Y and AGS cell lines

Abstract

Many of the bioactive substances used in pharmaceutical industry are easily affected by temperature, light and oxygen, and are easily degraded during storage and processing, and exhibit poor adsorption properties during digestion, which limits their direct use. Microalgae are rich in oils which have antimicrobial properties and antioxidants that attract attention in both food and pharmaceutical sectors in recent years. Studies to encapsulate bioactive compound-rich microalgae oils with nanotechnological approaches to improve the physical and chemical stability are relatively new, and it is promising to apply these approaches for pharmaceutical purposes. In this study, cytotoxic effects of oil extracts of Botryococcus braunii and Microcystis aeruginosa and their oil-loaded nanoparticles on L929 cell line, PC-3 prostate cell line, SHSY-5Y neuroblastoma cell line and AGS gastric adenocarcinoma cell line were investigated. The obtained extracts were found to have no cytotoxic effect on L929 cells. However, they showed cytotoxic effect on cancer cells. As for the nanoparticles; a gradual release was determined and the stability of the nanoparticle structure was shown. In the light of obtained findings, it was considered that nanoparticles produced with oil extracts of microalgae which have bioactive substances, have potential to be evaluated especially in pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields.

Keywords:

• Microalgae
• bioactives
• microalgal extracts
• anticancer activity
• encapsulation
• nanoparticle

Acknowledgements

Benan Inan was supported by TUBITAK-BIDEB 2228-B Doctoral scholarship program for graduate students. The authors also thank Betül Mutlu and Zeynep Karavelioğlu for their help in the XTT assay.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

Additional information

Funding

The authors acknowledge financial support from the Yıldız Technical University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit (Project Number: FDK-2017-3214) provided for this work.