Essential Oils of the Leaf and Stem of Polyalthia viridis Craib and Their Biological Activities

Abstract

Plants of the genus Polyalthia can be seen as a rich resource of essential oils type terpenoids. In this study, the essential oils obtained by hydro-distillation from the leaf and stem of Polyalthia viridis were analysed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry–flame ionization detection. Thirty-nine constituents (95.3%) were identified in the leaf oils and 42 constituents (90.9%) in the stem oils. Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated sesquiterpenes were the main constituents of both oils, in which 2 sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, germacrene D (45.1%-47.4%) and bicyclogermacrene (8.2%-17.1%), were the 2 major compounds. The stem oils inhibited the growth of 3 cancer cell lines, HepG2, MCF7, and A549, with half inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 56.7 to 68.4 μg/mL. The stem oils also successfully suppressed the growth of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger and the yeast Candida albicans with minimum inhibitory concentration values of 50 μg/mL. P viridis oils suppressed NO production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated BV2 microglial cells, with IC50 values of 57.6 to 76.7 μg/mL.