Asian Journal
Of Traditional Medicines

Abstract: d-Limonene and d-carvone are components of the essential oils isolated from plants and citrus fruits and the antiproliferative and apoptotic effects were determined in human leukemia HL-60 cells. Both d-limonene and d-carvone inhibited growth and induced apoptosis of HL-60 cells. Both d-limonene and d-carvone induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and the decrease of mitochondria membrane potential (MMP). Antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) only blocked the ROS production but not the decrease of MMP nor the apoptosis in cells treated with both d-limonene and d-carvone. The treatments with both d-limonene and d-carvone activated caspase-8 that was not blocked NAC. These data suggest that d-limonene and d-carvone induce apoptosis through activation of caspaspe-8 independent of ROS production.

Key words: d-carvone, d-limonene, leukemia, apoptosis