Aims: Citrus lemon essential oil (CLEO) has been introduced as a strong antioxidant mixture. However, it is not efficient enough due to its hydrophobic nature. Nanoemulsions improve the drugs’ bio-compatibility in aqueous conditions.

Methods: The CLEO nanoemulsion (CLEO-NE) was formulated by ultrasound-based-emulsification and they were characterised. The anti-angiogenic and antioxidant activities were studied by the chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) and antioxidant (ABTS and DPPH) assays, respectively. Finally, the apoptotic property of CLEO-NE on both HFF and A549 was evaluated by [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] (MTT) assay and real time-PCR (measuring Cas-3 gene expression).

Results: The 30.2-nm CLEO-NE droplets significantly increased Cas-3 in A549 cells and decreased angiogenesis in chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: In conclusion, CLEO-NE has the potential to be used as a safe cell-depended anticancer agent for human lung cancer. However, further genes and cell lines have to be studied to clarify its targeted-anticancer activity.

目的： 柑橘柠檬精油（CLEO）已作为强抗氧化剂混合物被引入。然而，由于其疏水性，其效率不足。纳米乳剂可改善药物在水性条件下的生物相容性。

方法：采用超声乳化法制备CLEO-纳米乳液（CLEO-NE）并进行表征。分别通过鸡绒膜尿囊膜（CAM）和抗氧化剂（ABTS和DPPH）分析研究了抗血管生成和抗氧化活性。最后，通过[3-（4,5-二甲基噻唑-2-基）-2,5-二苯基四氮唑溴化物]（MTT）测定和实时荧光定量PCR（测量）评估CLEO-NE在HFF和A549上的凋亡特性。 Cas-3基因表达）。

结果： 30.2 nm的CLEO-NE液滴显着增加了A549细胞中的Cas-3，并降低了鸡胚绒膜尿囊膜的血管生成（p  <0.01）。

结论：总之，CLEO-NE有潜力用作安全的细胞依赖型抗人肺癌药物。但是，必须进一步研究基因和细胞系，以阐明其靶向抗癌活性。