Cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of Juniperus communis essential oil and post-distillation waste

Abstract

Cytotoxicity of essential oil (EO) and post-distillation waste (PDW) of Juniperus communis was investigated in MTT assay on human lung carcinoma (A549), colorectal adenocarcinoma (HT-29) and normal lung fibroblast (MRC-5) cells. EO was remarkably more cytotoxic comparing to PDW, with determined IC50 values in the ranges 69-120 and 1270-2860 µg mL-1, respectively. In addition, both test substances were more cytotoxic to cancer than to normal cells. However, calculated selectivity indexes which ranged from 1.4 to 2.2 revealed that selectivity towards cancer cells was not remarkable. Genotoxicity was tested in comet assay on MRC-5 cells. Obtained results showed that only PDW, applied in concentrations 500 and 1000 µg mL-1, was genotoxic.