CYTOTOXICITY AND APOPTOSIS EFFECTS OF CURCUMIN AND THYMOQUINONE ON HUVEC CELLS: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Curcumin and thymoquinone are common herbal medicines with low side effects
and potent antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and anti-cancer activity. This investigation aimed to evaluate
toxicity of curcumin and thymoquinone on HUVECS cell lines via MTT and flow cytometry assays.
Materials & Methods: HUVEC cells were cultured in RPMI-1640 medium under standard culture
conditions (5% CO2 and 95% humidified air at 37°C). Curcumin and thymoquinone were used at
concentrations of 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320 μM and incubated for 24 and 48 hours, then cell viability
was assessed using MTT assay. Cell apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry via Annexin V-FITC
and propidium iodide kit. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA and p <0.05 was considered
significant.
Results: The results of this study showed that IC50 for curcumin and thymoquinone was 35μM and 105
μM at 24 h, and 32 μM and 90 μM at 48 h, respectively (p>0.999). Apoptosis rates for curcumin and
thymoquinone were 40% and 30%, respectively.
Conclusion: In this study, we observed that cell viability depended on the concentration of curcumin
and thymoquinone. Both compounds induced apoptosis and also the cell viability of HUVEC upon
treatment with thymoquinone is more than that of curcumin.