Cytotoxic and Antioxidative Effects of Geranium Oil and Ascorbic Acid Coloaded in Niosomes against MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells

Sherif Ashraf Fahmy; Soad Nasr; Asmaa Ramzy; Abdelhameed S Dawood; Anwar Abdelnaser; Hassan Mohamed El-Said Azzazy

doi:10.1021/acsomega.3c01681

Cytotoxic and Antioxidative Effects of Geranium Oil and Ascorbic Acid Coloaded in Niosomes against MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells

ACS Omega. 2023 Jun 13;8(25):22774-22782. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.3c01681. eCollection 2023 Jun 27.

Authors

Sherif Ashraf Fahmy^{1

2}, Soad Nasr³, Asmaa Ramzy², Abdelhameed S Dawood³, Anwar Abdelnaser³, Hassan Mohamed El-Said Azzazy^{2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Chemistry Department, School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire Hosted by Global Academic Foundation, R5 New Garden City, New Administrative Capital, Cairo 11835, Egypt.
² Department of Chemistry, School of Sciences & Engineering, The American University in Cairo, AUC Avenue, P.O. Box 74, New Cairo 11835, Egypt.
³ Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology, School of Sciences & Engineering, The American University in Cairo, AUC Avenue, P.O. Box 74, New Cairo 11835, Egypt.
⁴ Department of Nanobiophotonics, Leibniz Institute for Photonic Technology, Albert Einstein Str. 9, Jena 07745, Germany.

Abstract

Geranium oil (GO) has antiproliferative, antiangiogenic, and anti-inflammatory properties. Ascorbic acid (AA) is reported to inhibit the formation of reactive oxygen species, sensitize cancer cells, and induce apoptosis. In this context, AA, GO, and AA-GO were loaded into niosomal nanovesicles to ameliorate the physicochemical properties of GO and improve its cytotoxic effects using the thin-film hydration technique. The prepared nanovesicles had a spherical shape with average diameters ranging from 200 to 300 nm and exhibited outstanding surface negative charges, high entrapment efficiencies, and a controlled sustained release over 72 h. Entrapping AA and GO in niosomes resulted in a lower IC₅₀ value than free AA and GO when tested on MCF-7 breast cancer cells. In addition, flow cytometry analysis showed higher apoptotic cells in the late apoptotic stage upon treating the MCF-7 breast cancer cells with AA-GO niosomal vesicles compared to treatments with free AA, free GO, and AA or GO loaded into niosomal nanovesicles. Assessing the antioxidant effect of the free drugs and loaded niosomal nanovesicles showed enhanced antioxidant activity of AA-GO niosomal vesicles. These findings suggest the AA-GO niosomal vesicles as a potential treatment strategy against breast cancer, possibly through scavenging free radicals.