In Vitro and In Vivo Anticancer Activity of Ferula Gummosa Essential Oil Nanoemulsions (FGEO-NE) for the Colon Cancer Treatment

This survey was performed to aim of synthesize Nano emulsion from Ferula gummosa essential oil (FEGO-NE) and to evaluate its anti-tumor effect. First, Ferula gummosa essential oil was analyzed by GC–MS method, and then the Nano emulsion was synthesized as O/W and after characterization by DLS, Zeta potential, AFM, FESEM and TEM methods, its toxicity was evaluated by MTT method. Then its pro-apoptotic effects were evaluated by qPCR (Caspase3, 9, Bax and Bcl-2) method and AO/PI staining. The cancer induction model was used to evaluate the antitumor effects in Balb/C mice. The anti-angiogenic and antioxidant effects were evaluated by qPCR (VEGF, CAT and SOD) method. The results of physicochemical studies showed the formation of droplet with dimensions of 24.6 nm, dispersion index of 0.41 and zeta potential of − 28.5 mV with a spherical morphology. The Nano emulsion synthesized at a concentration of 2.9 μg/mL inhibited about 50% of ht-29 cells, while up to a concentration of 4 μg/mL showed no inhibitory effect on normal cells. Increase of caspase 3, 9 and Bax and decrease of BCL-2 gene expression along with increase of apoptotic cells in AP/PI staining confirmed induction of apoptosis by FEGO-NE. The FEGO-NE showed an inhibitory effect on angiogenesis and an additive effect on the expression of antioxidant genes. In addition, the reduction of tumor volume (69.72% in 14 days) in samples treated with FEGO-NE was confirmed. The results of this study showed that FEGO-NE by various mechanisms are able to inhibit cancer cells and have a reducing effect on induced tumors in the in vivo model. These results suggest FEGO-NEs as a suitable candidate for cancer therapy studies.