Evaluation of Wound Healing and Cytotoxic Activities of Anacardic Acid (13:0) Isolated from Pistacia vera Hull Extract

Pistacia vera fruit is a popular nut belonging to Anacardiaceae family. Traditionally, the hulls have been used as herbal remedies for treatment of oral and skin wounds,peptic ulcers and hemorrhoids. In this study, anacardic acid (13:0) was elucidated by EI-MS, FTIR, 1D-NMR and 2D-NMR data analysisfrom active fraction. Cytotoxic activity was assessed against normal NIH/3T3 cells, and several cancerous human cells, including human breast cancer (MCF-7), hepatocarcinoma (HepG-2) and gastric cancer (MKN-45) using MTT assay. The wound healing activity of this compound was evaluated using in vitro scratch-wound healing assay on NIH/3T3 cells. Anacardic acid (13:0) was toxic at the concentrations tested against all cell lines (6.25-100 µg/mL). Theselectivity index showed no selective cytotoxicity (SI< 2); however, anacardic acid (13:0) revealed significant wound healing effects through the migration of NIH/3T3 cells at the concentrations of 1.25-5 µg/mL. These results suggested that anacardic acid (13:0) from P. verahull has cytotoxic activity on human cancer cell lines and can also be useful as a bioactive molecule in wounds treatment. However, more in vitro and in vivo studies need to be done to confirm the efficacy and cytotoxicity of anacardicacid (13:0).