Evaluation of the Cytotoxic Efficacy of Thymoquinone and Capsaicin in the SH-SY5Y Neuroblastoma Cell Line

Abstract

In our study, it was aimed to examine the effects of thymoquinone, the active ingredient of Nigella sativa, which has known anticancer activities, and capsaicin, which is an important part of the endocannabinoid system, on the neuroblastoma cell line SH-SY5Y cells. SH-SY5Y cells were grown in culture in conventional culture flasks in DMEM medium at 37 °C and 5% CO2. When the cells were 70-80% confluent, morphological changes were examined under an inverted microscope. The cells were passaged into 96 microplates, and after passage, different concentrations of thymoquinone (2.5; 5; 10; 25; 50; 100; 200; 300 µM/ml) and capsaicin (0.675; 1.25; 2.5; 5; 10; 20; 50; 100 µM/ml) were applied to the cells. After administration, cytotoxic effect and proliferation rates/cell proliferation were analyzed by the MTT method. When compared to the control group, cultured cells treated with 200 and 300 μM thymoquinone and 5 and 100 μM capsaicin had reduced cell proliferation at statistically significant levels (p<0.05). Demonstration of antiproliferative activity of thymoquinone and capsaicin on neuroblastoma shows that phytotherapeutic approaches can be evaluated in cancer.

Keywords

• Cell culture techniques
• cytotoxicity test
• MTT formazan
• thymoquinone
• capsaicin
• neuroblastoma

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