Effects of zerumbone on cisplatin-induced clastogenesis in Sprague-Dawley rats bone marrow cells

Zerumbone (ZER) is derived from Zingiber zerumbet smith from the Zingiberaceae family. It has been shown to have anti-cancer and apoptosis-inducing properties against various human tumour cells. The aim of our study was to assess the effect of ZER on cisplatin-induced clastogenesis in Sprague-Dawley rat bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes (PCEs) using micronucleus test (MN). Animals treated with two ZER doses for 4 consecutive days plus a single dose of cisplatin following treatment, presented a non-significant effects of ZER on cisplatin-induced clastogenesis. The results also indicated that ZER has no clastogenic effects on rat bone marrow polychromatic erythrocytes after 4 days treatment with 250 and 500 mg/kg body weight when compared to one dose cisplatin of 45 mg/kg body weight. On the other hand, significant decrease in the number of PCE was observed in all treatment groups, indicating cytotoxicity of ZER and cisplatin. Under the present experimental conditions, ZER could not prevent cisplatin-induced clastogenesis in rat.Key words: Clastogenicity, micronucleus, micronuclei in polychromatic erythrocytes (MNPCEs), zerumbone

Validated high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method for analysis of zerumbone in plasma

Zerumbone (ZER) is a sesquiterpene derived from Zingiber zerumbet smith, family Zingiberaceae. It has been shown to possess anti-cancer and apoptosis-inducing properties against various human tumour cells as well as in vivo against a number of induced malignancies in mice. In this study a simple, specific and accurate high performance liquid chromatographic method for determination of ZER in micro-volumes human plasma (| 1.5 ml) was developed and validated. ZER and its analogue -Humuleneas internal standard were easy recovered by simple one step plasma protein precipitation using acetonitrile and separated in isocratic mobile phase, on reverse phase-C18 column. The effluent was monitored by Photodiode Array (PDA) detector and at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min. The linearity of proposed method was 2 – 15 ìg/ml. The intra-day and inter-day coefficient of variation and percent error values of the method were less than 15% and mean recovery was more than 90% for both ZER and -Humulene. This method was found to be precise, specific, accurate and robust for detection and analysis of ZER in human plasma

In vitro cytotoxic, genotoxic and antioxidant/oxidant effects of guaiazulene on human lymphocytes

The aim of this study was to evaluate for the cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and antioxidant/oxidant activity of GYZ on human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs). Guaiazulene (GYZ) was added into culture tubes at various concentrations (0-400 µg/mL-1). Cytotoxicity against the human lymphocytes cultures was examined by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay. The proliferative response was estimated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Antioxidant/oxidant activity was evaluated by measuring the total oxidant status (TOS) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) levels. Micronucleus (MN) and chromosomal aberration (CA) tests were used in genotoxicity studies. The results showed that GYZ caused cytotoxicity in the PBLs at high concentrations, but TOS level were not affected, while the level of TAC was significantly increased. GYZ also did not induce chromosomal aberrations when compared to that of the control group. Results this study clearly revealed that GYZ was not genotoxic and also increased the capacity of the antioxidant in the culture of human PBL cells. This report is first report on the impact of GYZ on human PBL cells