Objective: Sanguinarine is an alkaloid obtained from the root of Sanguinaria canadensis and other plants from the Papaveraceae family and is well known to possess a broad range of biological functions, such as antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, and antineoplastic activities. We aimed to specify the in vitro effect of sanguinarine on the House Ear Institute-Organ of Corti 1 (HEI-OC1) cells and to compare this effect with the ototoxic effect of cisplatin (CDDP).
Materials and methods: We performed cell proliferation assay for determining the in vitro effect of sanguinarine alone and compared it with the effect of cisplatin. Flow cytometry annexin-V apoptosis detection was performed.
Results: We found that sanguinarine and CDDP inhibited the cell growth in a dose-dependant manner in HEI-OC1 cells after 24 h of incubation. In sanguinarine-treated group, apoptosis was 6.6%, necrosis was 26.7%, and the cell viability was 66.7%. Further, in CDDP-treated group, apoptosis was 5.6%, necrosis was 45.4%, and the cell viability was 48.7%. According to the annexin-V apoptosis detection results, we found that sanguinarine caused 3.9% apoptosis and 1.3% necrosis, while CDDP caused 2.9% apoptosis and 20% necrosis on HEI-OC1 cells.
Conclusion: Our findings suggested that lower doses of sanguinarine are promising antineoplastic agents, which did not indicate any toxic effect on HEI-OC1 cells. Application of these data to clinical practice requires further support by in vivo studies.