Author(s)

Paraskevi Yfanti¹, Anna Batistatou², Georgios Manos¹, Marilena E. Lekka^3*

¹Department of Agricultural Technology, Technological Education Institute of Epirus, Arta, Greece.
²Medical School, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.
³Chemistry Department, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece.

S. horvatii ssp. macrophylla (Lamiaceae) is an endemic aromatic plant of Greece and is used as a culinary herb. In the present study we explored its possible anticancer activity through the induction of apoptosis on cancer cells using A549 cell line as a model. The cytotoxic effects and the type of cell death (apoptosis/necrosis) were evaluated with biochemical and morphological criteria. The total methanol extract of S. horvatii ssp. macrophylla revealed forty two components, of which carvacrol was the major constituent (43.2%). Only a minor portion of them (3.41%) was contained in the active working plant extract solution which was used for cell treatment. This study indicates that extract of S. horvatii spp. macrophylla, which belongs to carvacrol chemotype, can induce both apoptosis and necrosis to A549 cancer cell line.

Satureja horvatii spp. macrophylla, Apoptosis, Cytotoxicity, A549, GC/MS

Yfanti, P. , Batistatou, A. , Manos, G. and E. Lekka, M. (2015) The Aromatic Plant Satureja horvatii ssp. macrophylla Induces Apoptosis and Cell Death to the A549 Cancer Cell Line. American Journal of Plant Sciences, 6, 2092-2103. doi: 10.4236/ajps.2015.613210.