Rhizome Oil Research Articles

Chemical Compounds, Physicochemical Properties, and Antioxidant Activity of A. cardamomum Leaves and Rhizomes Oils on Different Distillation Time

Amomum cardamomum is a local cardamom that grows widely and recently developed as and agroforestry crops in Indonesia. Its seeds, leaves and rhizomes are sources of essential oil. Essential oils from cardamom have many benefits for health and flavouring agent. The objectives of this study were to elucidate the yield, chemical composisition, physico-chemical properties, and antioxidant activities of leaves and rhizomes oils of cardamom were distillated using water-steam distillation for 4, 6, and 8 hours. The chemical composition were analyzed by GC-MS, physicochemical properties were analyzed used ISO standard and antioxidant activity were analyzed by DPPH method. The results showed that A. cardamomun oils yield between 0.06-0.33%. The main compound in the oils is 1,8-cineole with the highest percentage was obtained from cardamom rhizomes oil was distillated for 6 hours (60.63%). The results of each sample almost have the same quality with specific gravity between 0.899 – 0.909; refractive index between 1.476-1.478; optical rotation between (+)2.05⁰-(+)2.38⁰; miscibility in 70% alcohol between 1:7-1:9; and acid number between 0.49-0.69. The leaves and rhizomes oils of A. cardamomum showed potent antioxidant activity with the highest antioxidant were obtained from cardamom rhizomes oil were distillated for 8 hours with IC50: 0.039 g/ml.

Chemical composition and larvicidal activity of essential oils from Zingiber montanum (J. Koenig) Link ex. A. Dietr. against three mosquito vectors

The chemical composition and larvicidal activity of essential oils derived from the leaves and rhizomes of Zingiber montanum (J. Koenig) Link ex. A. Dietr. were reported. The main compounds in the leaf oil were -pinene (13.8%), -phellandrene (11.3%) and -pinene (7.3%) while the rhizome oil was dominated by sabinene (41.1%), terpinen-4-ol (22.7%) and (E)-nerolidol (14.3%). The minimum lethal concentration (larvicidal activity) LC50 of the rhizome oil at 24 h against Aedes albopictus was 35.17 μg/mL, while LC50 values of 32.20 μg/mL and 31.12 μg/mL were obtained against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus respectively. At 48 h the oil displayed larvicidal action with LC50 values of 23.18 μg/mL, 25.58 μg/mL and 18.99 μg/mL respectively towards Ae. albopictus, Ae. Aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus. The leaf oil did not exhibit significant mortality and larvicidal action. The results indicate the potential of rhizome essential oil of Z. montanum as a source of larvicidal agent.

Chemical Compositions and Food Preservation Ability of White Turmeric Rhizomes Essential Oil

White turmeric (Curcuma aromatica Salisb.) has been widely used as a traditional herbal drug both in Vietnam and other Asian countries. In this study, the essential oil of white turmeric rhizomes (collected from Dien Bien province) was extracted and evaluated for its chemical composition and antibacterial potential against E. coli and S. aureus. The raw material was 82.48% in moisture and was steam distilled within 3 days from collection at a 0.4 kg L-1 ratio of raw material/equipment volume for 180 minutes. Under these conditions, the essential oil accounted for about 0.3% of the raw material. The GC-MS analysis showed that the composition of the essential oil consisted of more than 46 substances including a-zingiberene, 17.85%; β-sesquiphellandrene, 13.28%; and ar-curcumene, 9.45%. The white turmeric essential oil exhibited antibacterial activity against gram-positive strains of S. aureus with an inhibition zone diameter of 8.0mm but did not inhibit gram-negative strains of E. coli. Importantly, white turmeric essential oil at a concentration of 0.25% could extend the shelf life of mangoes by at least 5 days more than the control samples.

The Effectiveness of Adding Red Fruit Oil (Pandanus conoideus Lamk.) into Ethanol Extract of Temulawak rhizome (Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb.) as Antioxidant

Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb (temulawak) is a native Indonesian plant; ethnobotanically, it can facilitate breast milk, body fresheners, stomach lozenges, and seizure medications. Temulawak contains essential oils, curcuminoids, and xanthorrhizol. Curcuminoids and xanthorrhizol have potential as antioxidants. Antioxidants in the body are useful for preventing oxidation reactions caused by free radicals, both from body metabolism and external factors. Curcuminoids are difficult to dissolve in water and have a very low bioavailability. Combining curcuminoids with oil can increase the absorption of curcuminoids into the systemic system. The low solubility and bioavailability can be overcome by combining temulawak rhizome extract and red fruit oil. Pandanus conoideus Lamk (red fruit), ethnobotanically, effectively prevents blindness, intestinal worms, skin diseases, and increasing stamina. Red fruit contains vitamin C, vitamin E, flavonoids, and β-carotene, potentially as antioxidants. Each sample of Curcuma and red fruit, as well as a mixture of Curcuma and red fruit samples, were tested for their antioxidant activity using the DPPH method (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl). The ethanol extract of temulawak rhizome has intense antioxidant activity because it has an IC50 of 55.21 ppm. Red fruit oil has feeble antioxidant activity because it has an IC50 of 2604.77 ppm. The 1: 1 ratio between red fruit oil and the ethanol extract of temulawak rhizome has weak antioxidant activity because it has an IC50 of only 1568.24 ppm. Meanwhile, the 1:10 ratio of red fruit oil and ethanol extract of temulawak rhizome has robust antioxidant activity because it has an IC50 of 19.85 ppm. It is concluded that the addition of oil to the ethanol extract of Curcuma can increase antioxidant activity.

In Vitro and In Vivo Inhibition of Cylindrocladium reteaudii by Essential Oils of Acorus calamus Rhizomes

Cylindrocladium reteaudii (Bugnic.) Boesew. is a severe pathogen which can cause leaf blight disease in Eucalyptus seedlings in tropical countries. This study investigated the antifungal activity of essential oils extracted from Acorus calamus L. rhizomes in inhibiting the growth of C. reteaudii, both in in vitro and in vivo experiments. The extraction of essential oils from rhizomes was carried out by hydro-distillation technique and the in vitro antifungal testing was done by using the poisoned food technique. The results indicated that an essential oil concentration of 2,000 ppm can completely inhibit the fungal growth with a 50% inhibitory concentration value of 54.76 ppm. For the in vivo experiment, it was found that an essential oil concentration of 500 ppm and Captan® of 1,000 ppm were not significantly different in inhibiting the growth of C. reteaudii. However, these two treatments significantly inhibited the fungal growth (p<0.05) when compared with the control treatments. Physiological and anatomical characteristics were investigated to check for the antifungal activity after the application of essential oils. Results showed that essential oil spraying had no effect on the leaf transpiration rate and temperature of the Eucalyptus seedlings, but the incident disease ratio was high when an essential oil concentration of more than 1,500 ppm was applied. Therefore, it can be inferred that the essential oils from A. calamus rhizomes at an optimum concentration can be an efficient antifungal compound with a potential to control leaf and shoot blight diseases in Eucalyptus seedlings in a nursery.

Antiproliferation Assay of Essential Oil of Curcuma Rhizoma (Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb.) Against P388 Leukemia Cell

Leukemia or blood cancer is a disease which marked by abnormal increasing of blood producer`s cells. Chemotherapies which used as anticancer have a many adverse effect and toxicity. The volatile oil of turmeric rhizome (Curcuma xanthorriza) contains sesquiterpene which has an pharmacological activity. The aimed of this research to assay the antiproliferation activity of volatile oil from curcuma rhizome to leukemia P388 cells using MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) method. The methods were contain of identification of volatile oil (produced from distillation water-steam) using organoleptic test and TLC, and activity test was using seven various concentrations, which were 0.1; 0.3; 1; 3; 10; 30; 100 µg/mL. The result showed that the sample can inhibit leukemia P388 cells with the value of IC50 was 15.5 µg/mL. The volatile oil of Curcuma rhizome has an antiproliferative activity to leukemia P388 cell.Keywords: Curcuma rhizome, MTT assay, leukemia cell P388, volatile oil

Self Nano-Emulsifying Drug Delivery System (SNEDDS) of Curcuma Mangga Val. Essential Oil and The Stability Study

Essential oil of Curcuma mangga Val. has been reported to have cytotoxic effect against cancer cell lines. But this oil is unstable in dispensing so that a self nano-emulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) of the oil was conducted to solve the problem and improve its potency. In the study, optimization, verification, characterization, and stability test of the SNEDDS formula were carried out respectively by simplex lattice design (SLD) on Design Expert ver. 10 software, droplet size and Zeta potential determinations using particle size analyzer (PSA) instrument, as well as heating-cooling and freeze-thaw methods.
 The best SNEDDS formula resulted was Miglyol : Tween 80 : PEG 400 = 16.034% : 68.380% : 15.586%; with transmittance of 84.47 + 1.05%, droplet size of 15.75 nm, zeta potential of -8.54 mV, polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.188, emulsifying time of 49.67 + 1.7 seconds in distilled water, 24.33 + 4.19 seconds in artificial gastric fluid and 21.33 + 2.87 seconds in artificial intestine fluid. After a freeze-thaw test there was no change on the emulsion’s clarity, color, smell, as well as no separation, which means that the formula was stable thermodynamically.
 The optimum SNEDDS formula resulted has small particle size, better emulsifying time in artificial gastric and intestine fluids, as well as better thermodynamic stability, which in turn will improve the cytotoxic activity of the Curcuma mangga Val. rhizome oil toward cancer cells.

Formulation and Nanotechnology-Based Approaches for Solubility and Bioavailability Enhancement of Zerumbone.

About 40–70% of drug molecules in the clinical development pipeline suffer from one of either low aqueous solubility, poor absorption, or extremely low bioavailability. Approximately 75% of the world population relies on traditional therapies and therefore there has been a growing interest in the utilization of natural compounds. Zerumbone is one such natural compound, classified as a sesquiterpenoid that is extracted from the essential volatile oils of rhizomes from Zingiber zerumbet. It possesses strong antitumor, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory activity. However, despite promising preclinical studies demonstrating the therapeutic utility of zerumbone, its clinical development has been limited due to its low aqueous solubility, poor absorption, or associated low bioavailability. Multiple reviews demonstrating the pharmacological effects of zerumbone for various diseases have been published. However, to our knowledge, no review demonstrates the various formulation strategies developed to overcome the biopharmaceutical challenges of zerumbone. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive perspective on zerumbone as a molecule for formulation development. A section related to pharmacokinetics, toxicity, and patents of zerumbone is included. This review provides the importance of developing novel formulations of zerumbone to overcome its biopharmaceutical challenges thereby advance its potential in the treatment of various diseases.

Phytochemical Analysis, Antioxidant, Antibacterial, Cytotoxic, and Enzyme Inhibitory Activities of Hedychium flavum Rhizome.

Hedychium flavum Roxb., a medicinal, edible, and ornamental plant, is widely cultivated throughout China, India, and Southeast Asia. The rhizome from this plant has been used for food flavoring and in traditional Chinese medicine to treat diverse diseases, but the detailed constituents and bioactivities are still limited known. Therefore, phytochemical analysis by GC-MS and UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS, and antioxidant, antibacterial, cytotoxic, and enzyme inhibitory activities tests have been conducted in the current study. Based on the GC-MS results, the essential oil (EO) of rhizome was mainly composed of coronarin E (20.3%), β-pinene (16.8%), E-nerolidol (11.8%), and linalool (8.5%). Among them, coronarin E was reported in H. flavum EO firstly. Furthermore, the spectrophotometric indicated rhizome had high total phenolic content (TPC, 50.08–57.42 mg GAEs/g extract) and total flavonoid content (TFC, 12.45–21.83 mg REs/g extract), no matter in water extract (WE) or in 70% ethanol extract (EE). UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS was applied to further characterize composition, and 86 compounds were putatively identified from WE and EE, including 13 phenolic components. For the bioactivities, both WE and EE showed remarkable antioxidant activity by DPPH and ABTS tests, being superior to the positive control (butylated hydroxytoluene, BTH). EO revealed significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus vulgaris with DIZ (10.34–24.43 mm), MIC (78.13–312.50 μg/mL), and MBC (156.25–625.00 μg/mL). Moreover, EO exhibited a considerable selectivity to human tumor cell K562 (IC50 = 27.16 μg/mL), and its toxicity was more than 3.5-fold different from that of non-cancerous MRC-5 cell (IC50 = 95.96 μg/mL) and L929 cell (IC50 = 129.91 μg/mL). A series of apoptosis analysis demonstrated that EO induced apoptosis against K562 cells in a dose-dependent manner. In enzyme inhibitory effect assays, WE and EE showed strong α-glucosidase inhibition activity, being superior to the positive control (acarbose). Besides, the EO, WE, and EE didn’t show a promising inhibition on tyrosinase (19.30–32.51 mg KAEs/g sample) and exhibited a weak inhibitory effect on cholinesterase. Based on the current results, H. flavum could be considered as a source of bioactive compounds and has high exploitation potential in the cosmetics, food, and pharmaceutical industries.

Chemical Composition, Antiviral and Cytotoxic Activities of Essential Oil from Cyperus rotundus Growing in Egypt: Evidence from Chemometrics Analysis

The essential oil of Egyptian Cyperus rotundus rhizomes was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC/MS. The oil is composed mainly of oxygenated sesquiterpenes. Thirty-seven compounds were identified including, humulene epoxide (38.43 %) and caryophyllene oxide (21.03 %) as major components. Correlations between different C. rotundus essential oils from Egypt and other regions were studied based on its chemical composition through principal components analysis and agglomerative hierarchical clustering. The oil was tested for its antiviral activity against hepatitis A, herpes simplex type 1, and coxsackie viruses at non-cytotoxic concentration. The oil was also evaluated for its cytotoxicity on hepatic, breast, and prostate carcinomas. It showed a very weak activity against tested viruses with percent protection 7.98, 14.21 and 8.79 %, respectively at a maximum non-toxic concentration of 125 μg/mL and it exhibited moderate cytotoxicity against hepatic and breast cancer cell lines with IC50 values of 204.1±1.25 and 170.8±0.567 μg/mL, respectively. The oil did not exhibit any cytotoxicity against the prostate cancer cell line.

Phytochemical Compositions and Biological Activities of Essential Oils from the Leaves, Rhizomes and Whole Plant of Hornstedtia bella Škorničk.

The rapid emergence of drug-resistant strains and novel viruses have motivated the search for new anti-infectious agents. In this study, the chemical compositions and cytotoxicity, as well as the antibacterial, antifungal, antitrichomonas, and antiviral activities of essential oils from the leaves, rhizomes, and whole plant of Hornstedtia bella were investigated. The GC/MS analysis showed that β-pinene, E-β-caryophyllene, and α-humulene were found at high concentrations in the essential oils. The essential oils exhibited (i) inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and minimum lethal concentration (MLC) values from 1 to 4% (v/v); (ii) MIC and MLC values from 2 to 16% (v/v) in Candida tropicalis and Candida parapsilosis; (iii) MIC and MLC values from 4 to 16% in Enterococcus faecalis; and (iv) MIC and MLC values from 8 to greater than or equal to 16% (v/v) in the remaining strains, including Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Candida albicans, and Candida glabrata. In antitrichomonas activity, the leaves and whole-plant oils of Hornstedtia bella possessed IC50, IC90, and MLC values of 0.008%, 0.016%, and 0.03% (v/v), respectively, whilst those of rhizomes oil had in turn, 0.004%, 0.008%, and 0.016% (v/v).Besides, the leaf oil showed a weak cytotoxicity against Vero 76 and MRC-5; meanwhile, rhizomes and whole-plant oils did not exert any toxic effects on cell monolayers. Finally, these oils were not active against EV-A71.

Chemical profiling and bioactivity of essential oils from Alpinia officinarum Hance from ten localities in China

Essential oil of herbs has natural bioactivity, which can be applied on biomedical products, pharmaceutical preparations, natural functional nutrition and cosmetic additives. The chemical components and bioactivities of essential oils extracted from Alpinia officinarum Hance rhizomes collected from ten various habitats in China were comparatively investigated. The yield of ten essential oils varied from 0.93% to 4.35%. In total, 53 components were identified from GC–MS analysis, and the dominant compositions were 1,8-cineole (0.15–13.77%), α-farnesene (0.11–7.93%), γ-cadinene (2.30–6.95%), α-terpineol (0.28–5.67%), α-bergamotene (1.88–15.69%) and globulol (0.95–3.16%). The vast majority of these essential oils revealed outstanding anti-bacterial activities, especially against Gram-positive bacteria. According to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced mice ear edema assay, some essential oils displayed excellent anti-inflammatory properties through markedly down-regulating the relative expression of inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), and the essential oil of rhizomes collected from Yulin of Guangxi province showed the best anti-inflammatory effect. The antitumor activities of essential oils against microglial BV2 cell lines are also investigated, and many are quite excellent based on these IC50 values (211.07–769.06 μg/mL). Obviously, the results indicated majority of essential oils from A. officinarum rhizomes manifested extraordinary bioactivities, which makes them suitable to a large number of biomedical products, pharmaceutical preparations, natural functional nutrition and cosmetic additives.

Chemical Compositions and Anti-cancer Activities of the Volatile Oils of Leaves and Rhizomes of Three Polianthes Species

We report the isolation and determination of the essential oil composition from the leaves and rhizomes of Polianthes tuberosa (P. tuberosa), Polianthes sessiliflora (P. sessiliflora) and Polianthes longiflora (P. longiflora) species. These essential oils were extracted using supercritical CO2 extraction method, and their structures were characterised by GC-FID and GC/MS approaches. Methyl 2-aminobenzoate, isoeugenol, 5-octadecene, benzyl benzoate, 1-nonadecene, and diisobutylphthalate were identified as their major chemical compositions. Moreover, the anti-cancer activity of the total essential oils from these three Polianthes species was evaluated against five cancer cell lines.

Essential oils of leaves and pseudo stems Alpinia malaccensis and antimicrobial activities

The essential oils from the leaves, pseudo stems, rhizomes and fruits of Alpinia malaccensis, collected from conservation garden, UPM were isolated by hydro distillation. The collected oils were analysed by capillary GC and GC-MS. The leaf, pseudo stem, rhizome and fruit oils afforded 73 and 24 constituents, respectively. The most abundant components in the leaf oil were β-pinene (20.02%), 1,8-cineol (16.49%), trans- caryophyllene (8.69%) and α-pinene (6.64%), while 1,8-cineole (36.81%), β-pinene (13.95%), α-terpineol (6.85%), trans-caryophyllene (7.49%) and α-terpinolene (6.85%) were the main constituents in the pseudo stems oil. Antimicrobial assay revealed that all the essential oils showed moderate to weak inhibition against the tested microorganisms. The leaf oil was the most active and inhibited both S. aureus and E. coli with MIC values of 7.81 μg/mL and 15.6 μg/mL, respectively.

Chemical Composition of Essential Oils from Different Parts of Zingiberkerrii Craib and Their Antibacterial, Antioxidant, and Tyrosinase Inhibitory Activities.

The essential oils of the fresh rhizomes; flowers; and leaves of Zingiber kerrii Craib were investigated using different extraction techniques; including solid-phase microextraction (SPME), hydrodistillation (HD), and organic solvent (OS), and characterized by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). A total of 37 SPME; 19 HD; and 36 OS compounds were identified from the rhizome extract of Z. kerrii; with the major components being α-pinene; β-pinene; and terpinen-4-ol; respectively. From the flower extract; 16 SPME; 2 HD; and 10 OS compounds were identified; (E)-caryophyllene was found as a major compound by these techniques. The leaf extract exhibited 20 SPME; 13 HD; and 14 OS compounds; with α-pinene; (E)-caryophyllene; and n-hexadecanoic acid being the major compounds; respectively. The rhizome extract showed tyrosinase inhibitory activity of 71.60% and a total phenolic content of 22.4 mg gallic acid/g. The IC50 values of the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) assays were 25.2 µg/mL and 153.6 µg/mL; respectively; and the ferric ion reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay value was 318.5 µM ascorbic acid equivalent (AAE)/g extract. The rhizome extract showed weak antibacterial activity. This extract showed no adverse toxicity in human keratinocyte (HaCaT) cell lines at concentrations below 200 µg/mL.

Mosquito Larvicidal Activity of the Essential Oil of Zingiber collinsii against Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus.

The chemical composition and larvicidal activity of essential oils from the leaves and rhizomes of Zingiber collinsii Mood & Theilade (Zingiberaceae) were reported. The main compounds in the leaf oil were α-pinene (25.6%), β-caryophyllene (16.8%), β-pinene (16.1%) and bicyclogermacrene (6.9%) while the rhizome oil consist mainly of camphene (22.5%), β-pinene (16.3%), α-pinene (9.0%) and humulene oxide II (9.0%). The rhizome oil demonstrated larvicidal effects towards fourth instant larvae of mosquito vectors. The highest mortality (100%) was observed at 24 h exposure against Aedes albopictus (concentration 100 μg/mL) and 48 h (concentration of 50 and 100 μg/mL), while the highest mortality (100%) was observed for Culex quinquefasciatus at 24 h and 48 h at concentration of 100 μg/mL. The 24 h mosquito larvicidal activity of the rhizome oil against Ae. albopictus were LC50 = 25.51 μg/mL; LC90 = 40.22 μg/mL and towards Cx. quinquefasciatus with LC50 = 50.11 μg/mL and LC90 = 71.53 μg/mL). However, the 48 h larvicidal activity were LC50 = 20.03 μg/mL and LC90 = 24.51 μg/mL (Ae. albopictus), as well as LC50 = 36.18 μg/mL and LC90 = 55.11 μg/mL (Cx. quinquefasciatus). On the other hand, no appreciable mortality and larvicidal activity was observed for the leaf oil. The larvicidal activity of the essential oils of Z. collinsii was being reported for the first time.

Topical Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Essential Oils of Alpinia calcarata Rosc., Its Main Constituents, and Possible Mechanism of Action.

This study aimed at investigating the anti-inflammatory potential of essential oil from rhizome and leaf of Alpinia calcarata Rosc. (ACEO) with the focus of its topical anti-inflammatory activity along with its dominant compounds 1,8-cineole and α-terpineol using mouse ear edema model. ACEOs were analyzed by GC-MS. The anti-inflammatory activity was determined by studying the inhibition of overproduction of proinflammatory mediators—nitric oxide, reactive oxygen species, prostaglandins, cyclooxygenases, and cytokines induced by lipopolysaccharides in murine macrophages. Topical anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activity was studied by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) induced skin inflammation and formalin-induced pain model in mice, respectively. Rhizome oil has 1,8-cineole (31.08%), α-terpineol (10.31%), and fenchyl acetate (10.73%) as major compounds whereas the ACEO from leaves has 1,8-cineole (38.45%), a-terpineol (11.62%), and camphor (10%). ACEOs reduced the production of inflammatory mediators in vitro in a concentration-dependent manner. Further, ACEO and its major compounds reduced ear thickness, weight, myeloperoxidase, and cytokines significantly (p < 0.01) in mouse ear. Dose-dependent reduction in flinching and licking in both the phases of pain sensation concludes the topical analgesic effect. Our findings suggest the potency of topical use of ACEOs for inflammatory disease conditions.

Chemical profiling and antioxidant activities of essential oil from rhizomes of Acorus calamus L.

Background and Aims: Acorus calamus L. is an indigenous herb in Nepal. It belongs to family Acoraceae and grows in wet land with scented rhizomes. It is also known as Sweet flag in English and commonly as Bojho in Nepal. The present investigation reveals the chemical compositions and antioxidant activity of rhizome essential oil of A. calamus. Methods: Essential oil of rhizomes of Acorus calamus L. from Kaski district, Nepal was extracted by hydrodistillation method and volatile constituents were analyzed Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry. The antioxidant potential of essential oil was analyzed by 1,1-Diphenyl-2-Picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging assay. Results: A GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of β-asarone (22.38%), α-asarone (14.97%), 1-(4,6-dimethoxy-2,3-dimethylphenyl ethanone (14.24%), Isoelemicin (5.68%), cis-Methylisoeugenol (4.26%), α-calacorene (4.16%), and other 20 minor components. From DPPH assay, half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of essential oil was found to be 108.71 µg/mL. Conclusions: These findings have strengthened the A. calamus L. is good source of compounds like β-asarone, α-asarone and can be used as potential antioxidants.&#x0D; BIBECHANA 17 (2020) 89-95

Chemical composition and antibacterial activities of essential oils from Homalomena pierreana (Araceae)

Homalomena is a genus of the Araceae family which contains several remedies used extensively in traditional Vietnamese medicine. H. pierreana is a rare plant species of Homalomena genus and found only in Phu Quoc National Park, Phu Quoc Island, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam. Therefore, the number of studies about this species is limited and the bioactivity of this species is still unknown. In this study, the chemical composition of essential oils was investigated which was isolated from leaves and rhizomes of H. pierreana at the first time by GC-MS. Eight and twelve compounds were identified from the essential oils of rhizomes and leaves, respectively. The major component from both the rhizomes and the leaves was aromadendrene (44 and 48%, respectively). Furthermore, the antibacterial activity of essential oils collected from leaves and rhizomes of H. pierreana was investigated and it was observed that the essential oil of rhizomes could inhibit the growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, while the essential oil of leaves exhibited an inhibitory effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.

Antifungal Activity of Red Galangal Oil (Alpinia purpurata K. Schum) Against Malassezia furfur

Plant red galangal (Alpinia purpurata K. Schum) is one of the many spices used as bio-pharmacy products which contain essential oil that is active as an antifungal and antibacterial agent. Isolation of volatile oil from red galangal rhizome (Alpinia purpurata K. Schum) uses the method of water and steam distillation so as to get the rendemen 0.1062%, the density 0.9524 g/mL and the index of refraction by 1.4862. Results from GC-MS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry) retrieved 30 compounds contained in red galangal rhizome oil with 10 major compounds i.e. 1,8-cineole (40.92%), acetyl chavicol (10.33%), cis β-farnesene (6.91%), 1-caryophillene (6.32%), 1-β-bisabolene (3.37%), β-elemene (3.23%), α-pinene (3.20%), β-sesquiphellandrene (2.32%), β-pinene (2.21%), and germacrene-D (1.90%). The inhibition test was done by agar diffusion method and different variations of concentration (1, 2, 3 and 4%) compared with ketoconazole 2% as positive controls and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as negative controls with an incubation period of 2x24 hours. The test results show that the essential oil of red galangal rhizome (Alpinia purpurata K. Schum) can inhibit the growth of the fungus Malassezia furfur with the inhibitory power on concentrations1, 2, 3 and 4% were 7.15 mm, 13.87 mm, 16.05 mm and 20.05 mm, respectively. As for comparison, ketoconazole 2% was used as positive (+) control that produces inhibitory zone 27.20 mm and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as negative control (-) which does not produce inhibitory zones. Keywords: Essential oil, red galangal rhizome (Alpinia purpurata K. Schum), Malassezia furfur