Chemotherapeutic effect of essential oil of Wedelia chinensis (Osbeck) on inducing apoptosis, suppressing angiogenesis and lung metastasis in V57BL/6 mice model

Abstract

Aim of the study was to determine the effect of essential oil of Wedelia chinensis (Osbeck) on lung metastasis developed by B16F-10 melanoma cell line in C57BL/6 mice. The essential oil extracted by hydro distillation method was evaluated by GC-MS for its bioactive compounds. Male C57BL/6 mice were injected with B16F-10 melanoma cells through tail vein and simultaneously treated with the essential oil of Wedelia chinensis (Osbeck). The selected dose of drug (50 μg of essential oil) showed its cytotoxicity on B16 F-10 melanoma cell line with 65.17% of death within 24hrs in-vitro. We observed a statistically significant increase in the number of apoptotic cells in essential oil treated group when compared with the normal and cancer control groups. We have also observed an increased level of expression of apoptosis inducing molecules such as p53 and caspase-3 in treated group when compared to cancer group as an indicator of utilization of such molecules for inducing apoptosis. The present investigations indicate the effect of essential oil of Wedelia chinensis (Osbeck) in suppressing the metastatic potential of B16F-10 cells in lungs as well as tumor directed angiogenesis. It has shown a powerful apoptotic effect by increasing the levels of p53 and caspase-3 enhancing apoptotic nuclei and thereby it inhibits cancer progress. This drug can be therefore taken as a key therapeutic agent to treat cancer in future with extensive molecular studies. © 2013 Manjamalai A, et al.