Citrus lemon essential oil nanoemulsion (CLEO-NE), a safe cell-depended apoptosis inducer in human A549 lung cancer cells with anti-angiogenic activity

Abstract

Aims: Citrus lemon essential oil (CLEO) has been introduced as a strong antioxidant mixture. However, it is not efficient enough due to its hydrophobic nature. Nanoemulsions improve the drugs’ bio-compatibility in aqueous conditions.

Methods: The CLEO nanoemulsion (CLEO-NE) was formulated by ultrasound-based-emulsification and they were characterised. The anti-angiogenic and antioxidant activities were studied by the chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) and antioxidant (ABTS and DPPH) assays, respectively. Finally, the apoptotic property of CLEO-NE on both HFF and A549 was evaluated by [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] (MTT) assay and real time-PCR (measuring Cas-3 gene expression).

Results: The 30.2-nm CLEO-NE droplets significantly increased Cas-3 in A549 cells and decreased angiogenesis in chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: In conclusion, CLEO-NE has the potential to be used as a safe cell-depended anticancer agent for human lung cancer. However, further genes and cell lines have to be studied to clarify its targeted-anticancer activity.

Keywords:

• Nanoemulsion
• cell-depended anticancer activity
• anti-angiogenic
• antioxidant
• Citrus lemon essential oil

Acknowledgements

The authors very much appreciate the support by the Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran in conducting the present research.

Disclosure statement

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

Author contributions

Masoud Homayouni Tabrizi and Pouran Ardalan conceived of the presented idea. Seyed Mohammad Reza Seyedi wrote, drafted, and revised the manuscript; Elnaz Yosefian Rad, Samira Yadamani, and Parisa Zamani-Esmati performed the experiments and computations. Masoud Homayouni Tabrizi verified the analytical methods. Nastaran Haghani Sereshkeh has edited this manuscript grammatically.