Antioxidative, Anticancer and Genotoxic Properties of Α-Pinene on N2a Neuroblastoma Cells

Abstract

alpha-Pinene, an organic monoterpene, is found in essential oils of pine and coniferous trees. To date, although various biological activities of alpha-pinene have been demonstrated, its neurotoxicity has never been explored. Therefore in this study, we aimed to describe in vitro antiproliferative and/or cytotoxic properties by 3-(4,5-dimetylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) test, genotoxic damage potentials by single cell gel electrophoresis, and oxidative effects by total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total oxidative stress (TOS) analysis of alpha-pinene. Statistical analysis of MTT assay results indicated significant (p < 0.05) decreases of the cell proliferation rates in healthy neurons treated with alpha-pinene at only 400 mg/L, while significant decreases were observed in N2a cells at 100, 200 and 400 mg/L. On the other hand, the mean values of the total scores of cells showing DNA damage were not found significantly different from the control values on both cells. In addition, our results indicated that 10 and 25 mg/L of alpha-pinene treatment caused increases of TAC levels in primary rat neurons without any alterations of its level in N2a cells. However, alpha-pinene treatments at higher doses led to increases of TOS levels in both cell types. Overall our results suggest that alpha-pinene is of a limited therapeutic use as an anticancer agent.