A cytotoxic study of eugenol and its ortho dimer (bis-eugenol)

Eugenol is widely used not only as a dental material such as pulp capping material, provisional cement, root canal sealer, and impression paste, but also as a perfume ingredients. Eugenol has antioxidant, bactericidal, and sedative activities, inhibits and non-enzymatic peroxidation. It was previously reported that eugenol exhibited the cytotoxic activity toward pulp cells and gingial fibroblasts and also that the cytotoxic activity was predominantly performed by radicals derived from the oxidation of eugenol. This study was based on the hypothesis that the toxicity of eugenol may be greately reduced if the radicalization of eugenol was diminished by the dimerization of eugenol. Thus, bis-eugenol, the dimer of eugenol, was synthesized to characterize the effect of this eugenol-related compound. The cytotoxic activity of bis-eugenol against human gingival fibroblasts (HGF cell) or human submandibular gland cancer cells (HSG cell) was studied in the presence or absence of light irradiation (visible or ultraviolet light), and compared with that of eugenol. The cytotoxic activity of eugenol was significantly greater than that of bis-eugenol. The cytotoxic activity of irradiated eugenol, but not that of irradiated bis-eugenol, was significantly higher than that of the non-irradiated counterpart. Bis-eugenol at a relatively low concentration declined the phototoxic activity of irradiation on living cells. Also, the generation of reactive oxygen in HSG cells in the ab-sence or the presence of irradiated bis-eugenol or eugenol was evaluated by an ACAS laser cytometry, and the results indicated that eugenol, but not bis-eugenol, generated reactive oxygen in the cells. The DPPH-radical scavenging activity of bis-eugenol was larger than that of eugenol. Furthermore, eugenol had a positive apoptosis-inducing effect on HSG cells. The structure-activity relationships of eugenol-related compounds showed that the nature of the substituent at the ortho or para-position of eugenol was important for the cytotoxic activity. (author)