Cytotoxicity of carnosine, taxifolin, linalool and their combinations with acids to the cells of human cervical carcinoma (HeLa)

Abstract

Little information is available regarding possible synergistic or antagonistic biochemical interactions among different bioactive substances. The objective of this study was to investigate interactions between flavonoid (taxifolin, TXF), essential oil (linalool, LN), dipeptide (carnosine, CAR), vitamin (ascorbic acid, AA), lactic acid (LA), and their mixtures on cell apoptosis and proliferation-related variables in the human cervical cancer HeLa cells. The effect of the bioactive components on the viability of cultured cells was determined using the MTT assay, and the indirect quantification of cell death was determined with crystal violet dye. Using the MTT method, we found that LA (0.4 µM, 0.2 µM and 0.1 µM), TXF (1.0 mM, 0.5 mM and 0.3 mM) and CAR (50.0 mM, 25.0 mM and 13.0 mM) induced acute cytotoxic effects of HeLa cells after 24 h of treatment (P ≤ 0.05). The combination of the three compounds mixture (TXF, CAR and AA or LA) resulted in a significant lower percentage of cells number than the cells treated with that’s substances alone in different concentrations (P < 0.05). Our study demonstrated that combination treatment with CAR+TXF and addition of acids is able to induce intracellular acidification in cells, and to inhibit the viability of the cancer HeLa cells.