Nephroprotective Effects of Cardamom Essential Oil (Amomum compactum Soland. Ex Maton) in Kidney Cells

Many chemotherapeutic agents cause various side effects, including nephrotoxicity. Doxorubicin, for example, increases the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), leading to cell senescence in the kidneys. Cardamom essential oil (Amomum compactum Soland. ex Maton) contains compounds that exhibit antioxidant activity, such as 1.8-cineole, α-pinene, α-terpineol, and linalool. This study focused on exploring the potency of cardamom essential oil (CEO) as an anti-senescence induced by doxorubicin using Vero cells. CEO was obtained by steam distillation. The cytotoxic assay was carried out using trypan blue exclusion assay. We performed the 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFDA) staining and the senescence-associated beta-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) staining to measure the effect of CEO on intracellular ROS level and cell senescence, respectively. Analysis of the compounds with gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS), revealed seven compounds with significant abundance, namely 1.8-cineole (50.82%), ß-pinene (12.43%), α-terpineol (8.50%), fenchone (4.10%), α-pinene (4.00%), sabinene (3.00%), and linalool (1.98%). The cytotoxicity assay of CEO on Vero cells showed an IC50 value of 178 μg/mL. Thus, the CEO is considered to be not cytotoxic and safe for normal kidney cells. Concentrations of 50 and 100 μg/mL reduced the senescence induced by doxorubicin. Therefore, the CEO has the potency as a nephroprotective agent in doxorubicin-induced senescence.