Active compounds from tulsi inhibits benzo[a]pyrene mediated cytotoxicity:in vitro & in silico analysis

Abstract

Environmental Pollution is the one of the major problem of the hour. In this fast moving scenario, pollution both industrial and air plays a major role in affecting living beings. These pollutants mainly consist of mainly organic pollutants and particulate matter. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) are the groups of organic pollutants that are ubiquitously present, resistant to degradation and can stay for a longer time in the atmosphere.They are known as mutagen, carcinogen and tetratogen. One such PAH is Benzo[a]pyrene, which is first procarcinogen to be discovered which causes skin cancer and respiratory problems etc. Benzo[a]pyrene is a five membered ring which is basically produced from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, exhaust from automobiles and industries. The toxicity of Benzo[a]pyrene is the result of bioactivation of B[a]P to diolepoxides by monooxygenase enzymes i.e. CYP450 enzyme systems in human body. Diol epoxides are DNA adducts which mutate the p53 tumor suppressor gene leads to tumor. Hence these enzymes are inhibited by active compounds extracted from Black tulsi. They are eugenol, carvacrol, elemene, caryophyllene and linalool. In this study we have reported that active compounds of tulsi bind to cytochrome P450 enzyme active site and inhibit those from binding benzo[a]pyrene. By docking studies done in Hex software has proved that active compounds of tulsi bind to CYP450. Also not only insilico studies but also in-vitro analysis like MTT assay, DAPI staining and EROD assay was done to confirm our topic.