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Acknowledgments -- Abstract -- Introduction. Cancer rates ; Diet ; Previous studies on diet and cancer ; Antioxidants ; Apoptosis and necrosis ; Previous studies on antioxidant-rich foods ; Combination of food ; Objectives and hypotheses -- Materials and methods. Obtaining food material ; Natural extractions ; Drying food ; Concentrated extractions ; Determining antioxidant levels ; Culturing and passaging HeLa cells ; Seeding HeLa cells for microscopy ; Treating cells for microscopy ; Microscopy ; DNA extraction and gel electrophoresis ; FOX assay ; Cytotoxicity assay ; Catalase activity ; Structural analysis of foods -- Results. Storing method does not alter antioxidant levels ; Place of purchase does not affect antioxidant levels ; Antioxidant levels depend on extraction solvent ; Combining foods alters antioxidant levels in a non-additive way ; Antioxidant level differ between fresh weight and dry weight sample ; Antioxidant levels of some foods or combinations of food can vary by month ; Micrographs of natural extract treatments only showed signs of apoptosis in the oregano water extract sample ; Concentrated extract treatment on HeLa cells show possible dose-dependent apoptotic induction ; Gels show possible apoptosis induction due to some treatments ; Some food extracts had high Hb2sOb2s levels inside and outside HeLa cells ; Several treatments altered the number of viable HeLa cells compared to controls ; Several treatments altered catalase activity in HeLa cell medium compared to controls ; Detectable compounds in individual foods were similar to the compounds in their combinations -- Discussion. Storing method and place of purchase do not affect antioxidant levels of individual foods ; Water and wine extracted different amounts of antioxidants ; Non-additive antioxidant levels result from combining foods ; Fresh weight and dry weight samples had different antioxidant levels ; Antioxidant levels of some foods or combinations of food can vary by month ; Micrographs of natural extract treatments only showed signs of apoptosis in the oregano water extract sample ; Concentrated extract treatments show possible dose-dependent apoptotic induction ; Gels show possible apoptosis induction due to some treatments ; Some food extracts had high Hb2sOb2s levels inside and outside HeLa cells ; Several treatments altered the number of viable HeLa cells compared to controls ; Several treatments altered catalase activity in HeLa cell medium compared to controls ; Detectable compounds in individual foods were similar to the compounds in their combinations -- Conclusion and future directions -- References. "Cancer affects over 14.5 million U.S. citizens of all ages, socioeconomic statuses, and races. Some countries have much lower cancer incident rates than the U.S. One major contributing factor to the lower incident rates is diet. Diets in countries with low rates of cancer include antioxidant-rich foods like raw fruits, raw vegetables, and spices. Studies have shown that antioxidants in black tea and berries induce apoptosis in cancerous cells. Because studies have shown that diet and cancer rates are related, it is important to analyze what we eat and how it impacts us. In this study, I quantified antioxidant levels and the ability to induce apoptosis in HeLa cells for three antioxidant-rich foods: spinach, tomato, and oregano. Antioxidant levels of individual foods and all combinations of these foods were quantified. I hypothesized that antioxidant levels for food combinations would be equal to the sum of the individual foods' antioxidant levels; however, results showed that total antioxidant levels for all combinations were not additive, but were synergistic in some way. Oregano had the most antioxidants followed by spinach and then tomato. I then tested the food extracts on HeLa cells, hypothesizing all the foods and food combinations would induce apoptosis in these cells. Treating HeLa cells with high doses of oregano or oregano combinations resulted in nuclear blebbing characteristic of apoptosis. DNA ladders provided further evidence that these treatments induced apoptosis in these cells. FOX, cell cytotoxicity, and catalase assays as well as gas chromatography analysis were performed, showing that oregano and its combinations were the most promising samples. This research shows how diet can impacts cancer cells and warrants research on other foods that could possibly be used in cancer prevention or anti-cancer drugs"--Leaf 6 |
