10185- BOT-2 ANTITUMOR AROMA THERAPY WITH LEMONGRASS ESSENTIAL OIL FOR GLIOBLASTOMA

Abstract BACKGROUND In glioblastoma, the only chemotherapy with a clear prognostic effect is temozolomide. Research and development of novel therapies to overcome glioblastoma resistance to treatment is ongoing. We have been studying antitumor aromatherapy using aromatic compounds in aromatic essential oils as a new treatment for glioblastoma. In this study, we focus on citral, the main component of lemongrass essential oil, and report that lemongrass essential oil shows anti-tumor effects in glioma cells and mouse brain tumor models. METHODS We used human glioma cells (U251, T98G) and mouse brain tumor cells (RSV-M). We examined the proliferation ability of lemongrass in glioma cells by transpiration and direct administration. The antitumor aroma effect of lemongrass essential oil inhalation in a mouse glioma brain tumor model was evaluated by survival time analysis using the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS After 72 hours of incubation of tumor cells in the presence of lemongrass essential oil, U251, T98G, and RSV-M all showed anti-proliferative effects, suggesting that the transpired lemongrass essential oil components acted on tumor cells in the vicinity. Direct administration of lemongrass essential oil also inhibited cell proliferation in all glioma cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Then, we examined the antitumor effect of lemongrass essential oil in a mouse brain tumor model using RSV-M. The results showed that the survival period was significantly prolonged in the lemongrass essential oil-inhaled group (n=6) compared to the control group (n=6) (p=0.0102), and the cumulative survival rate was not less than 50% at the end of the study. CONCLUSION Citral is the main component of lemongrass essential oil, containing about 80%. Citral may have an antitumor effect on glioblastoma, as evidenced by its transpiration effect. In addition, its antitumor effect was also observed in animal experiments, suggesting that it could be a new treatment for glioblastoma.