Aqueous extract of Frankincense increases the expression of Camk4 gene in PC12 and B65 cell lines

The most important effects of Frankincense on memory are included prevention and relative treatment of Alzheimer disease, as well as memory enhancement of off springs of the rats that had received Frankincense during their pregnancy and lactation period. Considerably, Camk4, one of the important memory genes, induces downstream memory genes expression through phosphorylation and activation of transcription factors. Here, we aimed to study the effects of aqueous extract of Frankincense on the Camk4 gene expression in PC12 and B65 cell lines.
The effect of extract on the cell viability was evaluated by cell treatment in two time intervals with six concentrations of extract and 50% inhibition concentration was obtained. In this way, for gene expression studies, cells were treated by two concentrations of extract in two time points. RNA was extracted and converted to cDNA and qPCR was performed to investigate the expression of Camk4 gene.
The aqueous extract of Frankincense decreased the cell viability in a time and concentration dependent pattern. However, the extract was more toxic for B65 cell line than PC12. Also, it significantly increased the expression of Camk4 gene in the cells. Nevertheless, the increase was dependent to the extract concentration and the cell type. The low concentration of the extract was more effective to the expression of Camk4 gene than the high concentration as well as to its expression in the PC12 cell line than B65.
This study showed that Frankincense could regulate the expression of Camk4 gene in a concentration dependent pattern. However, further studies are needed to identify the mechanisms of Frankincense action in different cells.