ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to analyse the chemical composition of Spartium junceum L. (also known as Spanish Broom) aromatic water and to evaluate its cytotoxic activity against a series of human cancer cell lines (melanoma: RPMI 7932; leukemia: K562; breast cancer cell: MCF7-Bart and MCF7-ICLC, colon adenocarcinoma: SW480). The results show that the aromatic water was cytotoxic toward the tumor cell lines analyzed (RPMI 7932, K562, MCF7-Bart, MCF7-ICLC, SW480), while it did not appreciably alter the viability of normal keratinocytes (NCTC 2544) suggesting its potential use as an antitumor agent for cancer treatment and/or prevention.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/pharmacology , Plant Extracts/pharmacology , Spartium/chemistry , Cell Line, Tumor , Dose-Response Relationship, Drug , Flowers , Humans , Phytotherapy , WaterABSTRACT
The biological effects produced by low power millimeter waves (MMW) were studied on the RPMI 7932 human melanoma cell line. Three different frequency-type irradiation modes were used: the 53.57-78.33 GHz wide-band frequency range, the 51.05 GHz and the 65.00 GHz monochromatic frequencies. In all three irradiation conditions, the radiation energy was low enough not to increase the temperature of the cellular samples. Three hours of radiation treatment, applied every day to the melanoma cell samples, were performed at each frequency exposure condition. The wide-band irradiation treatment effectively inhibited cell growth, while both the monochromatic irradiation treatments did not affect the growth trend of RPMI 7932 cells. A light microscopy analysis revealed that the low-intensity wide-band millimeter radiation induced significant morphological alterations on these cells. Furthermore, a histochemical study revealed the low proliferative state of the irradiated cells. This work provides further evidence of the antiproliferative effects on tumor cells induced by low power MMW in the 50-80 GHz frequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum.
