Chemical Composition and In Vitro Cytotoxic and Antimicrobial Activities of the Essential Oil from Leaves of Zanthoxylum monogynum St. Hill (Rutaceae).

Fernanda Silva,Marcelo Vallim,Roberto Martins,Patricia Sartorelli,Nara Santos,Renata Pascon,Carlos Figueiredo

doi:10.3390/medicines4020031

Fernanda Silva, Marcelo Vallim + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/medicines4020031

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Abstract

Background: The Zanthoxylum monogynum species belongs to the family Rutaceae and is found in Southeast, Midwest, and Northeast Brazil. For this genus several biological activities have been described. Methods: The essential oil (EO) was obtained from the leaves of Zanthoxylum monogynum by hydro-distillation and was analyzed by gas chromatograph and gas chromatograph/mass spectrometry (GC and GC/MS). Also the EO of Z. monogynum was evaluated for in vitro cytotoxic activity against six tumor cell lines and for antimicrobial activity, performing disk diffusion and MIC assays with yeast and bacterial strains. Results: The chemical analysis afforded the identification of 18 components (99.0% of the EO). The major components were found to be citronellol (43.0%) and farnesol (32.0%). The in vitro cytotoxic activity against tumor cell lines, resulted in IC50 values ranging from 11–65 µg/mL against all tested cell lines. Antimicrobial activity of the essential oil was also tested and oil was effective, especially against Cryptococcus sp. yeast. All the tested yeast strains showed at least 90% growth inhibition. Conclusions: the essential oil from leaves of Z. monogynum has a different qualitative and quantitative composition when compared to the composition previously described. Also this EO has significant cytotoxic activity and moderate activity against Cryptococcus sp. and Saccharomyces cereviseae yeasts.

Highlights

The Rutaceae family has approximately 150 genera distributed worldwide in tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions
Analysis by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC/FID) and chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and calculation of Kovats indexes and comparison with the literature data [18]
The essential oil from leaves of Z. monogynum has a different qualitative and quantitative composition when compared to the composition previously described, showing sesquiterpenes citronellol and farnesol as major constituents

Summary

Introduction

The Rutaceae family has approximately 150 genera distributed worldwide in tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions. In the Zanthoxylum genus, several biological activities—larvicidal [3], trypanocidal [4], anti-tumor [5], anti-psoriasis [6], and anti-inflammatory [7], among others—have been described. The Zanthoxylum monogynum species belongs to the family Rutaceae and is found in Southeast, Midwest, and Northeast Brazil. For this genus several biological activities have been described. The EO of Z. monogynum was evaluated for in vitro cytotoxic activity against six tumor cell lines and for antimicrobial activity, performing disk diffusion and MIC assays with yeast and bacterial strains. The in vitro cytotoxic activity against tumor cell lines, resulted in IC50 values ranging from 11–65 μg/mL against all tested cell lines. Antimicrobial activity of the essential oil was tested and oil was effective, especially against Cryptococcus sp. yeast

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