Tangerine Peels and Cancer Cells: How is this?

[ReignBeau54]

I have a question about tangerine peels. Yes, tangerine peels. :XP:

I Just read an very interesting article about how a compound in tangerine peels, called Salvestrol Q40, that has the ability to destroy human cancer cells. I want to do a project about this compound, but I am not 100% sure how to go about it, so this is why I made this topic.

Any suggestions about this topic are greatly appreciated!

[MelissaB]

Hi,

Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself, such as what grade you are in? That will help us figure out a project that's more appropriate to your grade level.

Unfortunately, extracting this particular compound from tangerine peel is probably beyond your abilities, and obviously without a mentor at a university or hospital working on cancer cells is out of the question. I did a very quick Google search and didn't find anyone selling concentrated sylvestrol.

What you could do, however, is do some experiments with ground-up tangerine peel. For example, if sylvestrol inhibits the growth of cancer cells, perhaps they will also inhibit the growth of rapidly dividing plant cells as seeds germinate. So you could grind up tangerine peel and mix it with soil, then you could grow plants in both normal and tangerine-mix soil. There are several problems with this experiment--first, you have no idea how much sylvestrol you are adding to the soil (and more importantly the concentration will probably be very low), you will not actually know whether or not the sylvestrol is getting to the growing plant (unless it actually affects plant growth), and something else in the tangerine peel may affect the growth of the plants and therefore if you do see an effect you can't say for certain that it is the sylvestrol and not, for example, the acid in the peeling (although you could test the pH and mimic that pH with dilute vinegar in some other soil).

You could also do similar experiments with bacteria, but you would face the same problems in interpretation and some science fairs require you to have special permissions to work with bacteria because it can be dangerous to do that. If you do want to work with bacteria, you will need to work closely with your teacher and follow safety guidelines.

So, how does that sound?

[ReignBeau54]

Sorry for not telling more about myself. I am in the 9th grade, and am in the Science Research program at my high school.

I am interested in the seed germination experiment that you suggested, and also using different citrus fruits. I think that since the tangerine is a citrus fruit, maybe this component might be shared by all citrus fruits, like oranges and lemons.

[MelissaB]

That's okay! I think using different citrus fruits would be fine--I agree, they most likely all contain some of the sylvestrol.

Just keep in mind that plants cells are very different from animal cells, so what inhibits the growth of one might not inhibit the growth of the other. Still, I think that for a ninth-grader this would be fine.

[bmac1998]

Hello,
My name is Beth and I am in ninth grade as well. I was wondering if there is a certain plant recommended for using? It would need to be a plant able to grow in a house. Also, is there another way to combine the soil with the tangerine peel? Maybe drying the tangerine before blending? I am mostly looking for ways to add or change the project.
Thanks!

[deleted-205898]

Hi Beth,

Since the experiment that's loosely described here deals with the idea that sylvestrol might slow the growth of quickly-dividing cells, one of the most things that you'll really want to consider when choosing a plant is simply how quickly the seeds will sprout. Before a seed actually "sprouts"--that is, before we can see the plant sticking up out of the ground--the plant's root system has already begun to develop. So the more quickly the seed emerges, we know that its root system had to develop more quickly. With that in mind, you'll want to find some quick-sprouting plants (but from gardening experience, it's sometimes hard to find plants that reliably sprout in under 5 days). If you want your plants to be able to grow to full size inside, I'd suggest a flower rather than a vegetable. Browsing a seed company's website like Burpee Seeds or Johnny's Selected Seeds is a great way to learn about the properties of the plants you're considering growing.

Coming up with a good way to add sylvestrol to the soil could be a whole experiment in itself, since we don't know enough about sylvestrol at the moment to be able to say with confidence a) how concentrated the sylvestrol is in the tangerine peel and b) how well the sylvestrol will leach out of the tangerine peel and be absorbed by the plant. I did a little reading on sylvestrol's properties (http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Stru ... 61792.html is a good link, but if you haven't taken chemistry yet it might be a little confusing), and it appears as though it should dissolve well in water. I think that you could probably use this property to your advantage--instead of drying out the peel, which would likely take the plants longer to absorb the sylvestrol, you might instead want to expose the tangerine peel to a lot of water. Whether you added the tangerine peel to water before mixing with the soil and made almost a tangerine "slush," or whether you decided to forego the soil entirely and use a method similar to the so-called "paper towel method" of starting plant seeds, you can hopefully develop a method that uses sylvestrol's chemical properties to your advantage.

Good luck with your project! Feel free to ask if you have any more questions.

[deleted-132180]

Hi there,

All the other experts gave you some great ideas already. If you plan on going with the plant experiment, I think your idea of using different citrus fruits is a good one to try. You may want to do a little research to see if you can find whether other citrus fruits may contain sylvestrol, and also see if anyone has ever measured the concentration of sylvestrol contained in these fruits. In addition, I think it would be worth it to add different masses of tangerine peels to the soil (or water like the previous expert suggested) to see if different concentrations will have different effects. For example, will adding a larger mass of tangerine peels (so theoretically, a higher concentration of sylvestrol), have more dramatic effects on the growth and properties of the plants compared to lower concentrations? As the previous expert suggested, we don't know enough about sylvestrol and how concentrated it is in the tangerine peel, so it would be interesting to see how much of the peel we actually need to exert an effect (if there will be any at all). Keep in mind that because animal cells are very different from plant cells, sylvestrol could potentially affect plants in a way that is different from how they affect animal cells. In addition, does sylvestrol only have effects on cancer cells or rapidly dividing cells? Is it known to have other effects on other cell types? You have to consider these issues as you are coming up with a question and hypothesis for this topic and what experiment would best test your idea, and how you will interpret your results.

Good luck with your project! Let us know if you have anymore questions.

Connie

[deleted-217964]

Hi,

I have a suggestion for seeds, if you are still looking for a suitable plant for your project. I once did a project where I placed mung bean seeds in a Petri dish and submerged them in a layer of water. The roots start developing within 1-3 days, and if exposed to the sun the seeds will also develop leaves. I do not believe that the plants will grow to full size, however.

You can buy mung beans at places such as Whole Foods Market. I'd imagine that other bean varieties work just as well.

[bmac1998]

Thank you all very much for your suggestions! They are very helpful

[Silvia Hwang]

Hello My name is Silvia and I was very interested in this experiment. It's fascinating and i wanted to know more about it.
If I were to do an experiment on testing the Salvestrol Q40 and effects on cancer how would I do it? (Assuming I have access to college labs)

Just wondering how it would all go down thank you!

[deleted-217964]

Hello Silvia,

Sorry for the delay in answering your question. According to a friend who has worked with tissue culture, you may want to introduce varying concentrations of the chemical through the tissue culture media and observe changes. Since Salvestrol Q40 is turned into a cytotoxic chemical in cancer cells you would want to keep track of colony size.

Extracting chemicals from plants can become very complicated and take a long time. Thus, you would need some way to obtain Salvestrol Q40.

I hope this gives you some ideas on how you would do the project.

Best,
Derek