Special Issue Article
BeyzaSumeyye Aydin
Abstract
Incorporation of nano drug delivery systemswith herbalextracts is a promising research area which provides possibility of obtaining high efficacy with low dose of natural therapeutics.In this aspect we prepared the nano-micellar formulationof the polyphenolic fraction ofThymus vulgaris L. (ThV)using poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA). ThV is very well known for its anticanceractivity.Phenolic compounds are able to scavenge free radicals and show antioxidant activity. However, in cancer cell where the accumulation of Fe+2 ions are higher than healthy tissue, this anti-oxidant activity transforms to pro-oxidant activity via the Fenton Reaction. Pro-oxidation induces cancer cell death and this point is where the anti-cancer activity of natural products could be discussed.Thus it is possible to obtain pro-oxidant activity with low doses of plant extracts using their nano-formulations. For this purpose petroleum ether (P.E.) extract of ThV was obtained in order to remove the non-polar andnon-phenolic seconder metabolites along with the chlorophyll derivatives. Following P.E. extraction the plant material was further extracted using Acetonitrile (AcN) in room temperatureto obtain an extract rich in phenolic components.ThVAcN extract was vacuum dried. Different amounts of the obtained extract (5-20 mg) was dissolved in acetone along with 50 mg PLGA and drop wisely added on 20 ml of aqueous media containing %0.05 Tween 80. Acetone was evaporated in R.T. and the obtained PLGA-ThVAcNnano formulations with the size of 175nm showed increased anti-cancer efficacy against MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines compared to free ThVAcNdissolved in DMSO.