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Antioxidant, anticancer, and toxicological evaluation of semi-synthetic curcumin benzothiazole analogue

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Abstract

Objective

Curcumin is the most important active component of the turmeric rhizomes (Curcuma longa L). Over the past few decades, research on curcumin and its analogues has increased due to their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities. This study involved the synthesis of a curcumin benzothiazole analogue and evaluation of the compound's antioxidant properties, in vitro anticancer activity, and in vivo toxicity.

Methods

An analogue of curcumin benzothiazole was synthesized, and the antioxidant activity was assessed using the ABTS radical scavenging assay. The MTT assay was used to assess the cytotoxic activity against the lung cancer A549, cervical cancer HELA, and breast cancer MDA MB 231 cell lines. According to OECD guidelines, acute toxicity was assessed in albino wistar rats.

Results

Strong antioxidant activity was shown by the curcumin benzothiazole derivative. The curcumin benzothiazole analogue demonstrated the highest and most potent cytotoxic activity in the MTT assay when tested against MDA MB 231 breast cancer cells, at 88.60 ± 0.26%. This was followed by moderate cytotoxicity against A549 lung cancer cells and HELA cancer cell lines. According to the OECD 423 recommendations, rats were fed the curcumin benzothiazole analogue at doses of 2000 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg during an acute toxicity experiment. Although no death was discovered at either level, kidney tubular necrosis was observed at the dose of 2000 mg/kg, and albino wistar rats were found to be unaffected by the 300 mg/kg dose.

Conclusion

According to the findings of this investigation, in vitro experiments showed that the curcumin benzothiazole analogue was a very potent antioxidant and anti-breast cancer candidate. Testing on albino wistar rats revealed that the substance was safe up to levels of 300 mg/kg.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Karpagam Academy of Higher Education for providing the necessary facilities to perform this research. This project did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Pharmacy, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

    Manivel Kannan

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Engineering, Karpagam Academy of Higher Education, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

    Ramasamy Thilagavathi

  3. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Texas Southern University, Houston, TX, USA

    Chelliah Selvam

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  1. Manivel Kannan
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  2. Ramasamy Thilagavathi
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  3. Chelliah Selvam
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Correspondence to Ramasamy Thilagavathi.

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Ethical approval

This article does not include experiments using human subjects, and the institutional animal ethics committee at the Karpagam Academy of Higher Education in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, gave its approval for the animal studies (Approval no: KAHE/IAEC/2020/30-12/001).

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Kannan, M., Thilagavathi, R. & Selvam, C. Antioxidant, anticancer, and toxicological evaluation of semi-synthetic curcumin benzothiazole analogue. Toxicol. Environ. Health Sci. 15, 85–97 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13530-022-00164-3

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