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DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1234580
Cytotoxicity, antioxidant and composition of the essential oil of Dracocephalum surmandinum Rech. from Iran
The chemical composition of hydrodistilled essential oil from the aerial flowering parts of D. surmandinum was analyzed for the first time by GC and GC-MS. Monoterpenoids including oxygenated and hydrocarbons comprising 63.4 and 33.9% were the principal compound groups of the essential oil, respectively. In total, 25 constituents accounting for 97.8% of the oil were identified [1]. Perilla aldehyde (54.3%) and limonene (30.1%) were characterized as the main components. In addition, our results indicated that the essential oil of D. surmandinum (5–100µg/ml) possesses a marked antioxidant and radical scavenging activity using different model systems including Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, β-carotene-linoleic acid blenching and 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) assays [2]. The cytotoxicity activity was also carried out using the MTT assay [3]. Results showed that the essential oil of D. surmandinum has a good cytotoxic activity against Human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7) and Human erythromyeloblastoid leukemia cell line (K562) with an IC50 value of 14 and 16µg/ml, respectively. However, the cytotoxic potential of D. surmandinum essential oil against Rat adrenal pheochromocytoma cell line (PC 12) was weak (IC50 of >100µg/ml).
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Shahid Beheshti University Research Council for financial support of this work.
References: [1] Adams, R. (2007) Identification of essential oil components by gas chromatography/quadropole mass spectroscopy. Allured Publishing Corporation, Carol Stream.
[2] Blois, M.S. (1958) Nature 181:1199–1200.
[3] Vistica, D.T. et al. (1991) Cancer Res. 51:2515–2520.