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Aesculus hippocastanum (the horse chestnut) seed extract has a wide variety of biochemical and pharmacological effects including anti-inflammatory, antianalgesic, and antipyretic activities. The main active compound of this plant is escin. It is known that several medicinal herbs with anti-inflammatory properties have been found to have a role in the prevention and treatment of cancer. In the present study, the cytotoxic effects of escin in the C6 glioma and A549 cell lines were analyzed by MTT. Apoptotic effects of escin on both cell lines were evaluated by Annexin V binding capacity with flow cytometric analysis. Structural and ultrastructural changes were also evaluated using transmission electron microscopy. The results indicated that escin has potent antiproliferative effects against C6 glioma and A549 cells. These effects are both dose and time dependent. Taken together, escin possesses cell cycle arrest on G0/G1 phase and selective apoptotic activity on A549 cells as indicated by increased Annexin V-binding capacity, bax protein expression, caspase-3 activity and morphological changes obtained from micrographs by transmission electron microscopy.

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New benzodioxole-based thiosemicarbazone derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxic effects on A549 human lung adenocarcinoma, C6 rat glioma and NIH/3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblast cells. In order to examine the correlation between anticancer activity and cholinesterases, the compounds were evaluated for their inhibitory effects on AChE and BuChE. The most effective anticancer agents were investigated for their effects on DNA synthesis, apoptosis and mitochondrial membrane potential. 4-(1,3-Benzodioxol-5-yl)-1-([1,1 -biphenyl]-4-ylmethylene)thiosemicarbazide (5) was identified as the most promising anticancer agent against C6 and A549 cell lines due to its inhibitory effects on C6 and A549 cells and low toxicity to NIH/3T3 cells. Compound 5 increased early and late apoptosis in A549 and C6 cells. Compound 5 also caused disturbance on mitochondrial membrane potential and showed DNA synthesis inhibitory activity in A549 and C6 cells. Compound 5 was investigated for SIRT1 inhibitory activity to provide mechanistic insight and for that purpose docking studies were also performed for this compound on SIRT1. On the other hand, compound 5 did not show any inhibitory activity against AChE and BuChE. This outcome pointed out that there is no relationship between anticancer activity of compound 5 and cholinesterases.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of male cancer deaths worldwide. Metal-based anticancer drugs have evolved significantly during the past decades. Recently, silver ions have been investigated for their anticancer effects. We aimed to study the time-course cytotoxic effects of silver nitrate on A549 adenocarcinomic human alveolar basal epithelial cells to provide insights into the molecular-level understanding of growth suppression mechanism involved in apoptosis. The influences of silver nitrate were studied via MTT assay, flow cytometry, immunocytochemical, confocal and transmission electron microscopy, and microarray assays. Silver nitrate showed inhibitory effects against A549 cells in a dose-and time-dependent manner for 24, 48, and 72 h and induced apoptosis. The early and late apoptotic cells and depolarized mitochondrial membrane potential were determined by the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) value of silver nitrate treated for 72 h. But cysteinyl aspartate proteinase-3 was not activated for 72 h. Furthermore, IC 50 value of silver nitrate also induced apoptosis according to immunocytochemical assays for 72 h. The downregulated CCNY, HNRNPL, ASF1B, PIAS4, HNRNPH1, EIF2C2, TAF15, FOXC1, LEP, and PCB2 genes administered with silver nitrate IC 50 were identified as apoptosis-leading genes. Silver nitrate may be a suitable therapeutic agent against lung cancer.

Metal based drugs have successfully been used in both the detection and treatment of different disease states. The antibacterial features of metal ion silver are well documented. Most recently, metal ion silver has been tested and applied in anticancer activity. The present study observed the cytotoxic, anti-proliferative and apoptotic effects of metal complex silver nitrate in H-ras transformed 5RP7 cell lines for 24 h. In addition, the toxic effects of silver nitrate was investigated on NIH/3T3 primary mouse embryonic fibroblast cells for 24 h. Cytotoxic effects were determined by MTT (3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide) assay. Apoptosis and necrosis were evaluated by flow cytometric analysis (Annexin-V FITC/PI). Caspase-3 activation was researched by flow cytometric analysis. Apoptotic morphology was observed by DAPI staining. Structure and ultra-structure changes of cells were assessed using transmission electron microscopy. The results indicate silver nitrate has high cytotoxicity and a strong capacity to induce apoptosis in H-ras 5RP7 cells. Furthermore silver nitrate was not toxic against NIH/3T3 primary mouse embryonic fibroblast cells at low doses for 24 h.

In the present study, new pyrazoline derivatives were synthesized via the reaction of 1-(chloroacetyl)-3-(2-furyl)-5-aryl-2-pyrazolines with sodium salts of N,N-disubstituted dithiocarbamic acids. Each derivative was evaluated for its ability to inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) using a modification of Ellman's spectrophotometric method. The compounds were also investigated for their cytotoxic properties using the MTT assay. The most potent AChE inhibitor was found as compound 7 followed by compounds 27 and 17, when compared with eserine. Compounds effective on AChE carry the 2-dimethylaminoethyl moiety, which resembles the trimethylammonium group and the ethylene bridge of acetylcholine. Among all compounds, compound 7 bearing 2-dimethylaminoethyl and 3,4-methylenedioxyphenyl moieties was also found to be the most effective inhibitor of BuChE. The MTT assay indicated that the effective concentration of compound 7 was lower than its cytotoxic concentration.