Chemical composition, antioxidant and anticancer activity of the essential oil from myric rubra leaves

Abstract

The Myric rubra leaves essential oil (MEO) was extracted by steam distillation and its major component was analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrum (GC-MS). The result showed that 20 kinds of essential oils were identified. with humulene (26.03%), caryophyllene (19.74%), ledene oxide-(II) (16.37%) and γ-himachalene (7.7%) being the major constituents. The antioxidant activity of MEO were analyzed by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazylassay (DPPH) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay respectively, Analogues of vitamin E (Trolox) was positive control. The results showed that the IC50 of DPPH radical scavenging is 0.0576 mg/mL and the ORAC value of fluorescence spectrometry is 1.32mmol TE/g. The anticancer effect of obtained MEO was tested in A549 lung cancer cells by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. MEO IC50 value of 163 μg/mL was obtained with significantly inhibited cell proliferation in concentration-dependant manner. MEO could be useful for pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industry, because of its strong antioxidant and anticancer activity.