« Back to Farmacia Journal 1/2012

THE CYTOTOXIC POTENTIAL EFFECT OF SOME FLAVORING AGENTS ON A MOUSE FIBROBLAST CELL CULTURE

ALINA DUCA^1*, GINA MANDA², DANA MIHELE³

Download Full Article PDF

The study aimed to evaluate the proliferative action and cellular morphology induced by the following food flavoring agents: (±) - limonene p-methyl-1,8-diene (orange flavoring substance) and (±) -3,7-dimethyl-6-octenal (lemon flavoring substance) in cell cultures.The tests were performed on normal proliferating adherent cells from the 3T3 cell line (mouse fibroblast) grown in DMEM culture medium (Dulbecco's Modified Eagles Medium) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (SFB), glutamine and antibioticantimycotic (complete culture medium). Tests for lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release and 3- (4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) -5- (3-carboxymethoxy phenyl) -2- (4-sulfophenyl) -2 H – tetrazolium (MTS) reduction were achieved after 18 hours and 24 hours of cells incubation in the presence of the testing substances. For testing, we considered a wide range of dilutions (1:2560000-1:2000) for lemon and orange flavoring substances, compared with the corresponding dilutions of ethanol (used as reference solvent). Orange flavoring substance reduced the number of metabolically active cells in culture at dilution 1/2000 compared to the decreased effect exerted by the scent of lemon. Lemon flavoring substance had a moderate cytostatic effect, but the orange one was strongly cytotoxic at the dilution of 1/2000 (massive release of LDH). At dilution 1/1000 it was observed a higher cytotoxicity of both flavoring substances, especially the orange flavoring at dilution 1/4000.