Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências (Apr 2020)

Chemical composition and biological activities of the essential oils from Vitex-agnus castus, Ocimum campechianum and Ocimum carnosum

  • LARA P. RICARTE,
  • GABRIELI P. BEZERRA,
  • NIRLA R. ROMERO,
  • HORLANDO C. DA SILVA,
  • TELMA L.G. LEMOS,
  • ANGELA M. C. ARRIAGA,
  • PÉRICLES B. ALVES,
  • MARCELO B. DOS SANTOS,
  • GARDENIA C.G. MILITÃO,
  • THIAGO D.S. SILVA,
  • RAIMUNDO BRAZ-FILHO,
  • GILVANDETE M.P. SANTIAGO

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1590/0001-3765202020180569
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 92, no. 1

Abstract

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Abstract The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from fresh leaves of Vitex agnus-castus and Ocimum campechianum, and from fresh inflorescences of Ocimum carnosum were analysed by GC-FID and GC-MS. The major components of V. agnus-castus essential oil were identified as 1,8-cineole (47.9%), terpinyl α-acetate (11.6%), sabinene (11.2%) and caryophyllene oxide (9.7%), while in the O. campechianum essential oil were eugenol (72.1%), β-elemene (6.8%), (E)-caryophyllene (6.4%) and bicyclogermacrene (5.2%). Linalool (79.0%), α-epi-cadinol (5.4%), terpinen-4-ol (3.2%) and 1,8-cineole (2.8%) were the major constituents in the O. carnosum essential oil. The essential oils were subsequently evaluated for their larvicidal and cytotoxic activities. Larval bioassay against Aedes aegypti of V. agnus-castus, O. campechianum and O. carnosum essential oils showed LC50 values of 97.55 ± 0.35, 81.45 ± 0.35 and 109.49 ± 0.35 μg/mL, respectively. The in vitro cytotoxic activities of the essential oils has been evaluated on breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), lung carcinoma (NCI-H292), pro-myelocytic leukemia (HL-60), and cervical adenocarcinoma (HEP-2) human cell lines, and pro-myelocytic leukemia cells lines (HL-60) were found to be the most sensitive to all the essential oils tested than the others. This is the first report on larvicidal and cytotoxic activities of these essential oils.

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