Abstract
The aim of the present research was to determine the chemical composition and the cytotoxic effects of Tetraclinis articulata trunk bark essential oil (HEE) obtained by steam distillation and five fractions obtained by normal phase silica chromatographic separation. Chemical analysis allowed the identification of 54 known compounds. Relatively high amounts of oxygenated sesquiterpenes (44.4–70.2%) were detected, mainly consisting of caryophyllene oxide (13.1–26.6%), carotol (9.2–21.2%),14-hydroxy-9-epi-(E)-caryophyllene (3.2–15.5%) and humulene epoxide II (2.6–7.2%). The cytotoxic activity against human mammary carcinoma cell lines (MDA-MB-231) and colorectal carcinoma cell lines (SW620) of the essential oil and its fractions were assessed. All the samples displayed moderate to weak activity compared to 5-fluorouracil. The colorectal carcinoma cell line was relatively more sensitive to the essential oil and its fractions compared to the breast cancer cell line, showing IC50 values from 25.7 to 96.5 μg/mL. In addition, the essential oil and its fraction E.2 revealed a cytotoxic activity against colorectal carcinoma cell line, with IC50 values lower than 30 μg/mL. This is the first report on the chemical composition and cytotoxic activity of the trunk bark essential oil of T. articulata.
Highlights
Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), in their entirety or their separated parts, are used as they are or can be further processed by extraction of essential oils and are considered an important resource in various fields, such as pharmaceutical, flavor and fragrance, perfumery, and cosmetic industries [1]
The aim of the present research was to determine the chemical composition and the cytotoxic effects of Tetraclinis articulata trunk bark essential oil (HEE) obtained by steam distillation and five fractions obtained by normal phase silica chromatographic separation
The essential oils isolated from some Tetraclinis articulata organs so far have exhibited wide variability in their major compounds, the most commonly encountered ones being monoterpene hydrocarbons, such as α-pinene in leaves, fruits and cones (Algeria and Tunisia) [19,20,21] and camphene in wood branches and roots (Tunisia) [22], followed by oxygenated monoterpenes such as camphor and bornyl acetate in roots, leaves, nonwoody branches and wood branches (Malta, Algeria and Tunisia) [16,23,24].To date, no reports have been published on the chemical and cytotoxic activity of the trunk bark essential oil of T. articulata (HEE)
Summary
Medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs), in their entirety or their separated parts, are used as they are or can be further processed by extraction of essential oils and are considered an important resource in various fields, such as pharmaceutical, flavor and fragrance, perfumery, and cosmetic industries [1]. Essential oils from medicinal and aromatic plants are a very interesting source of secondary metabolites because of their many different biological properties, such as cytotoxic [2], anti-inflammatory [3], antioxidant [4], insecticidal [5], antifungal [6] and antimicrobial [7,8,9], many of which are of increasing interest in the field of human and animal health. The genus Tetraclinis is part of the Cupressaceae family and unspecific, consisting of only Tetraclinis articulata (Vahl) Masters (synonyms: Thuja articulata Vahl, Callitris quadrivalvis Vent), commonly known as “Barbary thuja” This species is widespread across the North African region. Our aim was to isolate the essential oils of HEE from northeast Tunisia by steam distillation, and fractionate these by normal phase silica chromatography and assess the fractions for cytotoxic activity [25]
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