Toxicity of Persian Gulf shell-less marine mollusc (Peronia peronii) methanolic extract on melanoma tumor mitochondria

Abstract

Introduction

Melanoma is known as an aggressive and highly lethal cancer. The poor prognosis and resistance to treatment are characteristics of melanoma. In melanoma cells, apoptosis signaling which relies heavily on the acute activity of mitochondria and reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation is suppressed. Studies have shown that compounds isolated from marine herbs and animals, have been shown to have cytotoxic consequences on cancerous cells in prior research. This study was designed to evaluate the apoptotic effect of methanolic extract of Persian Gulf shell-less marine mollusc (Peronia peronii) on skin mitochondria isolated from animal model of melanoma.

Purpose

Melanoma mitochondria obtained from skin of melanoma animal model are studied in this research to see whether extracts from Persian Gulf shell-less marine mollusc (Peronia peronii), has a cytotoxic impact on them.

Material and method

In this study, the mitochondria were isolated from melanoma cells via differential centrifugation were treated with various concentrations (650, 1300 and 2600 µg/ml) of methanolic extract of Peronia peronii. Then MTT(3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) viability assay, Reactive oxygen species (ROS) determination, Mitochondrial Membrane Potential (MMP) decline assay, mitochondrial swelling and cytochrome c release determination were performed. Flow cytometry assay of % apoptotic vs necrotic phenotypes was also performed on extract treated melanoma cells.

Results

The results of MTT assay showed that different concentrations of Peronia peronii extract significantly (P < 0.05) decreased the SDH activity in cancerous skin mitochondria with the IC50(1300 μg/ml). The ROS results also showed that all concentrations of Peronia peronii extracts significantly increased ROS production, MMP decline and the release of cytochrome c in cancer groups mitochondria. The swelling of mitochondria was significantly increased compared to the control group. In addition, the results of apoptosis assay showed that addition of root extract of Peronia peronii on melanoma cells increased apoptosis, while it had no effect on control non tumour cells.

Discussion and conclusion

Based on these results, the presence of potentially bioactive compounds in Peronia peronii make this Persian Gulf coastal herb a strong candidate for further molecular studies and clinical research in the field of melanoma cancer therapy.

Keywords:

• Peronia peronii
• reactive oxygen species
• oxidative stress
• apoptosis
• mitochondria
• melanoma

Acknowledgements

The results presented in this article were partly extracted from Dr. Aida Jabbarzadeh’s thesis, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. The thesis was conducted under the supervision of Prof. Jalal Pourahmad.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

The investigation was financially supported by research grant from the Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Deputy of Research, Tehran, Iran.