1. Antioxidant and Anticancer Properties of Essential Oils of Satureja thymbra and Satureja parnassica Fitsiou Eleni 1, Anestopoulos Ioannis 1, Kourkoutas Ioannis 1, Nychas George John 2, Kortsaris Alexandros 3, Panayiotidis Mihalis 4, 5 and Pappa Aglaia 1. 1 Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece; 2 Department of Food Science and Technology, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece, 3 Department of Biochemistry, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece; 4 Department of Pathology, University of Ioannina, Medical School, Ioannina, Greece; 5 School of Community Health Sciences, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, USA Aromatic plants have been used for their preservative and medicinal properties since ancient times. Satureja Thymbra and Satureja Parnassica are two aromatic plants of the Mediterranean region, which have been used as a local spice. S. thymbra has also been used as a home remedy due to its antiseptic, gastrosedative and diuretic properties. Their essential oils have proven antibacterial and antifungal properties. In addition, carvacrol and thymol, two monoterpene phenols, that are the essential oils’ major components (Figure 1), have been studied for their antimicrobial properties against a wide range of pathogens. The aim of our study was to investigate the antioxidant and anticancer properties of the essential oils from S. thymbra and S. parnassica, harvested in after their flowering season, and of the two phenols, carvacrol and thymol. Satureja parnassica Satureja thymbra S. thymbraS. parnassica Figure 1. Chemical constituents of essential oils from plants S. parnassica and S. thymbra harvested in after their flowering season (Chorianopoulos et al, 2006). (%GC area)

2. Results a.Antioxidant Capacity b. Anticarcinogenic capacity Figure 2. Representative data from antioxidant DPPH assay. Figure 4. Representative data from cell viability SRB (Sulforhodamine B) assay in mammary adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells. Figure 5. EC 50 values for both the essential oils and the phenols from SRB assay in four different cancer cell lines Figure 3. EC 50 values from DPPH assay for the oils and the phenols

3. c. Activation of the apoptosis pathway Carvacrol: 0 100 200 400 (μM) Conclusions Figure 6. Cleavage of pro-caspase 3 in extracts from HepG2 cells treated with different concentrations of carvacrol. Representative data. Similar data were obtained from thymol.  The essential oils from the Mediterranean aromatic plants Satureja thymbra and Satureja parnassica, as well as their major compounds, carvacrol and thymol exhibited significant antioxidant capacity in vitro.  The essential oil extracts and their two major constituents, carvacrol and thymol demonstrated significant anti-proliferative activity in a panel of cancer cell lines.  The anticarcinogenic potential of the essential oils is associated with the induction of the apoptotic pathway in cancer cells. References 0 50 100200400 200 10050 0 CarvacrolThymol (g/ml) Pro-caspase 3 Cleaved PARP Thymol: 0 100 200 400 (μM) Figure 6. DNA fragmentation assayCleavage of pro-caspase 3 in extracts from HepG2 cells treated with different concentrations of carvacrol. Representative data. Similar data were obtained from thymol.