Investigation of the Cellular, Molecular and Anti-Apoptotic Effects of Lipid Nanoparticles Containing Artemisia aucheri Essential Oil on Ovarian Cancer Cells

Subject Areas : Journal of Animal Biology

Farnaz Aboutalebi ¹ , Maryam Teimouri ^{2 *}

1 - Department of Pharmacy, Medical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Department of Biology, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran

Received: 2025-06-04 Accepted : 2025-06-18 Published : 2025-07-02

Keywords: Solid Lipid Nanoparticle, Ovarian cancer, Artemisia aucheri, Anti-apoptotic,

Abstract :

Ovarian cancer is one of the 9 most common cancers and one of the 5 leading causes of cancer death in women. Artemisia aucheri Boiss belongs to the Asteraceae family, and many studies have reported the effectiveness of its essential oil and extract on inhibiting the growth of cancer cells. Today, nanocarriers are used to load various plant essential oils to prevent oxidation of essential oils and their stability, in addition to better targeting and effectiveness. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) are used in many studies today as carrier systems for loading vitamins, drugs, and essential oils. Given the importance of ovarian cancer and the antioxidant potential of Artemisia aucheri, in this study, the essential oil of Artemisia aucheri was loaded into lipid nanoparticles with the aim of investigating cellular, molecular, and anti-apoptotic effects on ovarian cancer cells. First, nanoparticles containing Artemisia essential oil were synthesized using a homogenizer plus sonication method and subsequently their physicochemical properties (such as particle size, particle size distribution, zeta potential, percentage of essential oil loading efficiency, particle shape) were determined. The findings showed that increasing the concentration of lipid nanoparticles containing Artemisia essential oil led to a decrease in the viability of ovarian cancer cells (Hella) compared to pure essential oil. The results of the present study showed that lipid nanoparticles containing Artemisia extract activated the apoptosis pathway in ovarian cancer cells and consequently stopped tumor growth.

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