Journal of Medicinal Plants (May 2009)

Effects of Essential oil and Extract of Thymus vulgaris, Zataria multiflora and Eugenia caryophilata on Vero, Hela, HepII cell lines by MTT Assay

  • N Rahimifard,
  • SR Pakzad,
  • Sh Shoeibi,
  • MH Hedayati,
  • H Hajimehdipour,
  • V Motaharinia,
  • L Mehrafshan,
  • A Javadi,
  • M Pirali- Hamedani

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 30
pp. 152 – 156

Abstract

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Background: Natural flavors essential oils are almost present in various food stuffs, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. Safety assessment of these food additives should be seriously considered as long as their due wide applications are favorable. Objective: Natural flavors essential oils are widely used in various foods, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. These kinds of additives are applied as colors, preservatives, aroma, antioxidant agents and tasting agents. In some cases, it may happen that the large use of some of these additives may accompany with some concerns and unwanted toxic disturbs. Methods: In this study, Concentrations of 24, 12, 6, 3, 1.5, 0.75, 0.375, 0.1875 ppm (µg/ml) of three essential oils, Eugenia caryophyllata, Thymus vulgaris and Zataria multiflora, were tested in MTT assay with three cell line Vero, Hep2, Hela. Results: All three Essential oils and extracts were shown cytopathological effects on three cell lines in MTT assay in at least 0.04 µg/ml to maximum 3.0 µg/ml concentrations. Conclusion: Based on obtained results, all studied essential oils and extracts may have cytopathologic effect in specific concentrations so suggested using of these compound should be performed with considering their proper concentration and more safety studies on them.

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