Chemical composition, anti-angiogenic and cytotoxicity activities of the essential oils of Cymbopogan citratus (lemon grass) against colorectal and breast carcinoma cell lines

Abstract

The essential oil of Cymbopogan citratus (lemon grass) was isolated by steam distillation method and subjected to cytotoxicity activity using two different cell lines, human colon carcinoma (HCT-116), breast carcinoma cell lines (MCF-7) and anti-angiogenic activity. The cytotoxicity activity study was determined using the MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2,4-tetrazolium bromide] assay and anti-angiogenic activity using rat aortic ring model. The chemical composition of the essential oil was determined by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and GC–flame ionization detection (FID). Forty-one compounds, representing 88.5% of the lemon grass oil was identified and the main components were neral (29.8%) and geranial (44.6%). The free radical scavenging activity of the essential oil showed an IC50 value of 156.1 μg/mL. The results showed that essential oil of lemon grass possessed potential cytotoxic effect on HCT-116 and with the IC50 value of 27.41 ± 4.3 μg/mL comparing to MCF-7 with IC50 value of 41.90 ± 1.2 μg/mL. Significant anti-angiogenic activity of the sample was observed with 99 ± 0.8% of inhibition at 100 μg/mL.