A team of researchers from the Faculty of Sciences of the National University of Singapore has provided evidence of the cytotoxic effect about the lung cancer cells of black cardamom, which is used in the Ayurvedic medicine from India to treat cancer and lung conditions.
The main problems associated with existing lung cancer drugs are serious side effects and drug resistance. Hence the constant need to explore new molecules to improve the survival rate and the quality of life of patients with lung cancer.
This new research, published in the scientific journal Journal of Ethnopharmacologyhas highlighted that this spice is a source of powerful bioactives, such as cardamonina and the alpinetinawhich could be used in the treatment or prevention of lung cancer.
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Thus, this study is the first to report the association of black cardamom extract with oxidative stress induction in lung cancer cells and compares the effects of the spice on lung cancer cells lung, breast and liver.
Research provides verification of the ethnomedical uses of black cardamom for its effect on lung-related conditions. Black cardamom is often used in Asian homes in rice preparations, curries and stewseither as a whole spice or powdered.
Typical in Indian medicine
This spice is also prescribed in the Ayurvedic medicine in powder form, where it is used for conditions such as cough, pulmonary congestion, pulmonary tuberculosis, and diseases of the throat. Additionally, black cardamom has been used in medicinal formulations for cancer patients in some rural and tribal cultures of India.
In this study, black cardamom fruits were pulverized and sequentially extracted with five types of solvents, including organic solvents and water. This allowed the researchers to evaluate the best solvents to extract the most powerful active ingredients from the fruit.
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Next, the cytotoxicity of different types of black cardamom extracts against various types of cancer cells was tested. They were lung, liver and breast cancer cells. Of the three cell types, those of the lung were the ones that survived the least when tested with black cardamom extracts.
“The study lays the groundwork for further study of whether black cardamom consumption can prevent lung cancer or serve as therapy. Previous studies on the effects of black cardamom on cancer were preliminary and did not link the research results to the use of black cardamom in traditional medicine. There had also not been enough analyzes with different cancer cells to know which cancer cells responded best to black cardamom extracts,” he explains. Pooja Makhijaone of those responsible for the work.
food as medicine
The sequential extraction method with hexane followed by dichloromethane produced a black cardamom extract that was more effective against cells of lung cancer.
It was found that cells treated with dichloromethane extract they died mainly by the apoptotic pathwaytype of cell death in which a succession of molecular processes in the cell lead to its death. It is a method the body uses to remove unnecessary or abnormal cells.
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The measurement of living cells was reduced to an average of about 20% after 48 hours of contact with black cardamom extracted with dichloromethane.
Cell death was caused by apoptosis with cells that showed morphological changessuch as shape distortion and shrinkage, increased oxidative stress, and a failure of DNA damage repair.
After subjecting the black cardamom extract to liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis, the researchers linked the presence of two bioactive well studied, cardamonin and alpinetinwith the cytotoxic potential of black cardamom.
“Since black cardamom is commonly used as an important spice in cooking, a deeper investigation on its impact on lung cancer progression in preclinical models may provide strong evidence in support of the philosophy of the ‘food as medicine‘” of Hippocrates, which has been largely neglected today,” details Gautam Sethi, another of the research collaborators.