Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity
4.The
antibacterial properties of the ethanolic oregano extract were
measured using an agar dilution method.p-cymene and
although cytotoxic at high concentrations, did
both isomers at equimolar concentrations (12 uM carvacrol -octacosano
and 5 HM thymol) to those present in the oregano extract (at not contribute to the cytotoxicity of the mixture, most likely
the 2.93 ug/mL concentration) resulted in a less protective attributed to their low potency and very low availability in
effect than that produced by the extract (% viability of the mixture (nM range).Discussion
Results from the GC-MS analysis of the ethanol extract
of wild-growing herb Origanum vulgare obtained from
Southern Greece revealed an abundance of monoterpene
hydrocarbons and phenolic compounds with the main con
stituents being carvacrol and thymol (Table 1).the control group trea
l)-benzene)
pinene (1-methyl-4-0
rom
WI
methylethyl)-1,4-cyclohexadiene) are the precursors of car-
vac
in species of Origanum 19]
Studies examining the effect of oregano extract on cancer
prevention and cytotoxicity are limited [20].In the present
and thymol did not have any effect on the uptake of carvacrol study, challenge of A549 human lung adenocarcinoma
(Figure 3(a)); a small but significant increase in the uptake of epithelial cells with oregano ethanolic extracts (0-250 ug/mL
final concentration) resulted in a concentration-dependent
decrease in cell viability with a calculated LCs0 14ug/mL
thymol was observed (Figure 3
3(b))
3.4.Inclusion of p-cyme
and/or l-octacosanol to the carvacrol and thymol mixture
did not contribute to the antioxidant effects of the mixture
determined in this study might possess higher potencies and
The mechanisms by which thymol and carvacrol cause
cell death in mammalian cell lines have not been thoroughly
tent inhibitor of cell growth in A549 cell
and a
ne
play a role in the overall effects of the oregano extracts.This finding
rted by other investigators who
found that in spite of the high variability of individual
compounds in the essential oil of O. vulgare from 23 localities
scattered all over Greece, the sum of carvacrol, thymol, p-
cymene, and y-terpinene was consistent, amounting to >80%
[10, 17, 181.As showen in
Figure 4, pretreatment of A549 cells with the oregano extract
challenge of A549 cells with thymol, carvacrol, p-cymene
or l-octacosanol alone resulted in a concentration-dependent
at concentrations ranging from 0 to 2.93 ug/mL resulted in decrease in cell viability, with thymol being more cytotoxic
a concentration-dependent protective effect against H,0,.The oregano extract
inhibited the growth of reference ATCC Gram-negative and
protein amount [21].