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The search for new bioactive substances with anticancer activity and the understanding of their mechanisms of action are high priorities in the research effort toward more effective cancer treatments. In this article, we analyzed, for the first time, the chemical composition of the essential oil (EO) hydrodistilled from the aerial parts of Vicia ochroleuca Ten. (Leguminosae) by GC–MS. A total of sixteen compounds representing 82.2% of the total composition were identified. The major compounds were phytone (20.11%), hexadecanoic acid (10.23%), 1-octen-3-ol (9.84%), and 10-epi-α-cadinol (7.13%). Additionally, using the MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) method, the EO was tested in vitro against a panel of human cancer cells, including breast (MDA-MB 231), colon (HCT116), melanoma (A375), and glioblastoma (T98G), with corresponding IC50 values of 23.07, 47.05, 51.64, and 64.07 μg/mL, respectively. The results demonstrate cytotoxic activity and suggest that V. ochroleuca EO could be regarded as a natural bioactive source.

In this paper we report the analysis of essential oils from the woods of C. libani and P. pinea and from the berries of J. excelsa. Several differences were observed with respect to previous studie...

Pulicaria undulata is used as a traditional herbal remedy in Egypt. We used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for analysis of essential oil of this plant growing wild in Egypt and 64 compounds were identified. The oil was rich in oxygenated monoterpenes (64.0%) and aromatic derivatives (18.8%). The major components were carvacrol (46.5%), xanthoxylin (18.1%) and carvotanacetone (8.7%). The oil of the Egyptian plant showed significant differences from the oil results reported on this species derived from different accessions. Antioxidant activity was performed by FRAP, DPPH and ABTS assays, and the oil demonstrated a powerful antioxidant properties. Furthermore, cytotoxicity was assessed using MTT assay against three cell lines (A375, T98G, HCT116) and the oil showed moderate results with IC50 of 18.53, 40.64 and 22.23 μg/ml; respectively. The oil showed a good anti-acetylcholinesterase activity (IC50 = 139.2 μg/ml) using Ellman method. In conclusion, the studied oil exhibited a peculiar fingerprint and promising biological activities.

This study was undertaken to assess the antioxidant and antiproliferative potential of the essential oil of Hypericum hircinum L. subsp. majus (Aiton) N. Robson. Analysis of the oil composition revealed that sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (69.3%) dominate, cis-β-guaiene, δ-selinene and (E)-caryophyllene being the most representative. Significant values of antioxidant activity were found using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging assays. The essential oil revealed antiproliferative activity as evaluated on human glioblastoma (T98G), human prostatic adenocarcinoma (PC3), human squamous carcinoma (A431) and mouse melanoma (B16-F1) tumour cell lines by MTT assay.