The essential oils (EOs) of Lippia alba, an herb extensively used as a folk medicine in Latin America, are today promoted as an effective means of eliminating problems caused by hyperlipemia. We hypothesized that L.alba EOs inhibited cholesterol and triacylglycerols synthesis and decreased the intracellular depots of those lipids (lipid droplets), mechanisms involving the induction of a hypolipidemic response. Our aim was, therefore, to evaluate the hypolipogenic capability of the EOs of four L. alba chemotypes on liver-derived (HepG2) and non-liver (A549) human cell lines and to identify the potential biochemical targets of those chemotypes, particularly within the mevalonate pathway (MP). [14C]Acetate was used as radioactive precursor for assays. Lipid analyses were performed by thin-layer and capillary gas chromatography, lipid droplets analyzed by fluorescence microscopy, and HMGCR levels determined by Western blot. In both cell lines, all four chemotypes exerted hypocholesterogenic effects within a concentration range of 3.2-32 µg/mL. Nonsaponifiable lipids manifested a decrease in incorporation of [14C]acetate into squalene, lanosterol, lathosterol, and cholesterol, but not into ubiquinone, thus suggesting an inhibition of enzymes in the MP downstream from farnesyl pyrophosphate. The tagetenone chemotype, the most efficacious hypocholesterogenic L. alba EO, lowered HMGCR protein levels; inhibited triacylglycerols, cholesteryl esters, and phospholipids synthesis; and diminished lipid droplets in size and volume. These results revealed that L. alba EOs inhibited different lipogenic pathways and such lipid-lowering effects could prove essential to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
Keywords: Cholesterogenesis; Culture cells; Essential oil; Lipid droplets; Lippia alba.