Context: Almond oil is used in traditional and complementary therapies for its numerous health benefits due to high unsaturated fatty acids content.
Objectives: This study investigated the composition and in vitro anticancer activity of almond oil from Northern Cyprus and compared with almond oil from Turkey.
Materials and methods: Almond oil from Northern Cyprus was obtained by supercritical CO2 extraction and analyzed by GC-MS. Almond oil of Turkey was provided from Turkish pharmacies. Different concentrations of almond oils were incubated for 24 and 48 h with Colo-320 and Colo-741 cells. Cell growth and cytotoxicity were measured by MTT assays. Anticancer and antiprolifetarive activities of almond oils were investigated by immunocytochemistry using antibodies directed against to BMP-2, β-catenin, Ki-67, LGR-5 and Jagged 1.
Results: Oleic acid (77.8%; 75.3%), linoleic acid (13.5%; 15.8%), palmitic acid (7.4%; 6.3%), were determined as the major compounds of almond oil from Northern Cyprus and Turkey, respectively. In the MTT assay, both almond oils were found to be active against Colo-320 and Colo-741 cells with 1:1 dilution for both 24 h and 48 h. As a result of immunohistochemical staining, while both almond oils exhibited significant antiproliferative and anticancer activity, these activities were more similar in Colo-320 cells which were treated with Northern Cyprus almond oil.
Discussion and conclusion: Almond oil from Northern Cyprus and Turkey may have anticancer and antiproliferative effects on colon cancer cells through molecular signalling pathways and, thus, they could be potential novel therapeutic agents.
Keywords: Almond oil; colo-320 cell line; colo-741 cell line; oleic acid.