Apoptosis Cell Death Effect of Linoleic Acid from Nigella Sativa on Human Ovary Cancer Cells through Mitochondrial Intrinsic Pathway

In this study, we evaluated the cytotoxic potential of fractions (F1-F5) isolated from hexane extract of the seeds of N. sativa on human ovarian carcinoma cell line, A2780. F2 showed an outstanding potent cytotoxic effect against A2780 cells. Next, this fraction was purified to obtain six sub-fractions (SF1-SF6) and their cytotoxic effects were then evaluated. The obtained results showed that SF2 had strong cytotoxic effect against A2780 cell line. The effective subfraction (SF2) was determined to be linoleic acid (LA) according to spectroscopic analyses. In the next set of experiments, the apoptotic potentials of LA were investigated. Induction of apoptosis by LA was accompanied by an increase in activation of caspase-3, -9 and reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in A2780 cells. It can be concluded that LA, inhibited the growth of human ovarian carcinoma cells, A2780 and induced mitochondrial-related apoptosis.