Cytotoxic effects of Euterpe oleracea Mart. in malignant cell lines

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Roberto Soares de Moura²  Maria do Desterro Soares Brandão Nascimento¹  José Andrés Morgado-Díaz⁴  Maria Célia Pires Costa³  Debora Santos³  Flávia Castello Branco Vidal⁶  Dulcelena Ferreira Silva⁵ 

[1] Pathology Department, Federal University of Maranhão, Maranhão, Brazil;Laboratory of Pharmacology and Psychobiology, Pharmacology Department, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;Biology and Chemistry Department, State University of Maranhão, Maranhão, Brazil;Structural Biology Laboratory, Cell Biology Division, National Cancer Institute José Alencar Gomes da Silva, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;Morphology Department, Federal University of Maranhão, Rua Coelho Neto nº 311, Centro, São Luís, Maranhão 65020-140, Brazil;Tumors and DNA Bank from Maranhão, Federal University of Maranhão, Maranhão, Brazil

关键词: Chemopreventive;    Phytochemicals;    MCF-7;    Euterpe oleracea mart.;    Anticancer;   

Others  :  1220132
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-14-175

 received in 2013-11-13, accepted in 2014-05-20,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Euterpe oleracea Mart., a plant from the Amazon region, is commonly known as açaí or juçara; it has high nutritional value and elevated levels of lipids, proteins, and minerals. Açaí is an abundant and much consumed fruit by the Amazon local population, and studies have demonstrated that it is rich in phytochemicals with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activities. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test this plant for anticancer activity in different human malignant cell lines.

Methods

Cell lines derived from breast and colorectal adenocarcinomas were treated with 10, 20, and 40 μg/mL of bark, seed, and total açaí fruit hydroalcoholic extracts for 24 and 48 h. After treatment, cell viability was measured using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays, and cell morphological features were observed by light and transmission electron microscopy. The type of cell death was also evaluated. The data were analyzed statistically by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by Dunnett’s or Tukey’s post hoc tests, as appropriate.

Results

We observed that of all the cell lines tested, MCF-7 was the only line that responded to açaí treatment. The extracts caused significant reduction (p < 0.01) in cell viability and altered cell morphological features by inducing the appearance of autophagic vacuoles, as observed by transmission electron microscopy. Furthermore, increased expression of LC3BII, a protein marker of autophagosome formation, was observed by western blotting. Caspase Glo™ assays and morphologic observations by DAPI nuclear staining and transmission electron microscopy did not indicate any apoptotic events.

Conclusions

The present study demonstrated that açaí possesses antitumorigenic potential in the MCF-7 cell line. Further studies are needed to identify the compound (s) responsible for this cytotoxic activity and the molecular target in the cell. This discovery of the anticancer potential of açaí may help in the development of chemopreventive drugs and may have therapeutic effects in the treatment of breast cancer.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Silva et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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