, 1996). The rotational diffusion rate, Rbar, obtained from NLLS was converted to the rotational correlation time, τc, through the relationship τc = 1/6 Rbar ( Schneider and Freed, INK 128 in vitro 1989). Similar to previous studies ( Alonso et al., 2001, Alonso et al., 2003 and Queirós et al., 2005), the magnetic parameters were determined based on the global analysis of the

overall spectra obtained in this work, and all of the EPR spectra were simulated using the same predetermined parameters. The magnetic g and A tensors are defined in a molecule-fixed frame, where the constants of rotational diffusion rates around the x, y and z axes are included. The input parameters of tensors g and A were: gxx = 2.0088; gyy = 2.0060; gzz = 2.0026; Axx = 6.1; Ayy = 6.3 G; Azz = 36.5 G. Data from the microtiter plate reader were transferred to a spreadsheet template GraphPad Prism® to determine the cell viability, calculate the IC50 values using linear interpolation, and perform the statistical analyses. Concentration–response curves were constructed and fitted in ®Origin 8.0 using parametric nonlinear regression. IC50 values were computed using the fitted Hill equation and presented as the mean ± standard deviation (SD) of at least

three independent experiments with 4 repetitions in each experiment (12 experimental values for selleck compound each compound). IC50 data were compared by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s multiple range test for statistically significant differences at P < 0.05. In the present study we used the 3T3 NRU to evaluate the cytotoxicity of eight terpenes. The results were obtained for different concentrations of terpenes in a Balb/c 3T3-A31 NRU cytotoxicity assay after incubation for 48 h. Fig. 2 shows the concentration Astemizole dependence of cell viability for the terpenes of higher and lower cytotoxicity. The IC50 values for the eight tested terpenes are presented in Table 1. The hemolytic effects of the terpenes on human erythrocytes were evaluated after 1.5 h incubation. Ethanol was used as a vehicle to optimize the incorporation of terpenes into the RBC membranes;

the hemolytic effect of ethanol was previously characterized. The levels of ethanol-induced hemolysis measured at 50% hematocrit (Fig. 3A) indicate that damage occurs only at an ethanol concentration above 10% (v/v). The hemolytic potential can be used to indicate the toxicity of molecules on human erythrocytes (Benavides et al., 2004). In Fig. 3B was plotted the concentration dependence of the most hemolytic terpene (nerolidol) and a less hemolytic terpene (1,8-cineole). Nerolidol is hemolytic at very low concentrations, whereas 1,8-cineole shows significant levels of hemolysis only for concentrations above 10 mM. For the other terpenes used in this work, hemolysis occurs at concentrations between 1.0 and 6.0 mM.