Effect of p-cymene on chemotaxis, phagocytosis and leukocyte behaviors

Summary. In this study, we investigated the effects of p-cymene (CYM) in vitro and in vivo on leukocyte activity. In the cell viability assay, CYM (3, 10, 30, 90 𝜇g/mL) had low cytotoxicity. In vitro chemotaxis revealed that CYM (3, 10, 30, 60 𝜇g/mL) promoted a significant reduction of neutrophil migration toward fMLP, but not toward LTB 4 stimulation. In carrageenan-induced peritonitis, CYM (100, 200, 400 mg/kg) decreased the infiltration of peritoneal exudate leukocytes and of polymorphonuclear leukocytes. CYM pretreatment resulted in a significant decrease in the number of rolling (100, 200 mg/kg) and in the number of adherent leukocytes (100, 200, 400 mg/kg) to the perivascular tissue. The macrophage phagocytic index was increased significantly in concentrations of CYM (3, 10, 30 µg/ml). Treatment with CYM (10, 90 µg/ml) also reduced TNF-𝛼 levels but did not alter IL-10 levels in fMLP-stimulated neutrophils. In conclusion, CYM may be considered as a potential agent for treatment inflammatory injury, however, further studies are necessary to elucidate the anti-inflammatory mechanism. Industrial relevance. The CYM is a secondary metabolite, belongs to the class of monoterpene and is found in essential oils from plants, food and in several spices. It is an important intermediate used in pharmaceutical, flavor and aroma industries and for the production of fungicides. The investigation of the anti-inflammatory activity of this compound may be useful to development of new drug anti-inflammatory, on a commercial scale. Keywords. p-cymene; chemotaxis; in vivo microcirculation; phagocytosis; anti-inflammatory.