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Essential oils are formed by aromatic plants as secondary metabolites and are widely used in traditional medicine. In this research, the composition and biological activities of three commercial oils essential oils, Ocotea, Copaiba and Blue Cypress, were evaluated in cultured cells and in mice. GC/MS revealed different components within these oils. Ocotea and Copaiba did not have an antioxidant activity below 5 % (v/v), and Blue Cypress possessed a moderate anti-oxidant activity. Ocotea was the most potent inhibitor against pro-inflammatory mediators. In addition, Ocotea and a higher concentration of Blue Cypress suppressed LPS-induced PGE2 production. Single high-concentration administration of the oils showed acute toxicity in mice. Blood chemistry analysis showed the three essential oils to be quite safe under a lower sub-lethal dosage. Our findings suggested that essential oils can be useful as active medicines to inhibit over-activation of macrophages followed by stimulation by inflammatory mediators.

The lack of solubility and the high degree of volatility of essential oils present significant problems to determining the biological effects of these oils. The activity of 10 essential oils and 4 essential oil blends against a Gram-positive bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus., and a yeast, Candida albicans., was compared using a dilution assay and two diffusion methods. The tube dilution assay, using a 0.2% agar solution to provide a stable homogeneous dispersion of oils, was used to measure minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs). The relative merits of using p.-iodonitro tetrazolium dye (INT) or optical density (OD) in measuring MIC of essential oils also were evaluated. All 14 oils were active against both microorganisms. Thyme, mountain savory, and Turkish oregano were the most active oils against S. aureus. with MICs of 0.31–0.42 µl/ml. Thyme, Turkish oregano, and mountain savory also were the most active against C. albicans. with MICs of 0.31–0.42 µl/ml. The MIC values as determined by INT o...

Background Frankincense (Boswellia carterii, known as Ru Xiang in Chinese) and sandalwood (Santalum album, known as Tan Xiang in Chinese) are cancer preventive and therapeutic agents in Chinese medicine. Their biologically active ingredients are usually extracted from frankincense by hydrodistillation and sandalwood by distillation. This study aims to investigate the anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic activities of frankincense and sandalwood essential oils in cultured human bladder cancer cells. Methods The effects of frankincense (1,400–600 dilutions) (v/v) and sandalwood (16,000–7,000 dilutions) (v/v) essential oils on cell viability were studied in established human bladder cancer J82 cells and immortalized normal human bladder urothelial UROtsa cells using a colorimetric XTT cell viability assay. Genes that responded to essential oil treatments in human bladder cancer J82 cells were identified using the Illumina Expression BeadChip platform and analyzed for enriched functions and pathways. The chemical compositions of the essential oils were determined by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Results Human bladder cancer J82 cells were more sensitive to the pro-apoptotic effects of frankincense essential oil than the immortalized normal bladder UROtsa cells. In contrast, sandalwood essential oil exhibited a similar potency in suppressing the viability of both J82 and UROtsa cells. Although frankincense and sandalwood essential oils activated common pathways such as inflammatory interleukins (IL-6 signaling), each essential oil had a unique molecular action on the bladder cancer cells. Heat shock proteins and histone core proteins were activated by frankincense essential oil, whereas negative regulation of protein kinase activity and G protein-coupled receptors were activated by sandalwood essential oil treatment. Conclusion The effects of frankincense and sandalwood essential oils on J82 cells and UROtsa cells involved different mechanisms leading to cancer cell death. While frankincense essential oil elicited selective cancer cell death via NRF-2-mediated oxidative stress, sandalwood essential oil induced non-selective cell death via DNA damage and cell cycle arrest.

Of 73 essential oils tested for antibacterial activity against Streptococcus pneumoniae R36A (an unencapsulated strain) with a paper disk diffusion assay, three oils were highly inhibitory, fifteen moderately inhibitory and the remainder weakly or non-inhibitory. Three oils from each group were selected and tested with a broth assay in which each oil was added to growing cultures of S. pneumoniae R36A and optical densities (OD) were measured over time. The oils with high antibacterial activity; oregano, thyme and rosewood, induced rapid lysis of R36A as indicated by a decrease in OD, and appearance of dechaining and considerable cell debris within 30 min of addition. The lytic response of R36A to the three oils with moderate activity was variable but all induced some lysis. Oils that were weak inhibitors generally caused slowing of growth but little or no lysis. Several oils were also tested against an encapsulated isolate, S. pneumoniae IC2. Both disk assay and broth results were similar to thos...

The hydrodistilled essential oils from herbal parts of three varieties of Chrysothamnus nauseousus were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. All oils were found to consist of mainly monoterpenes. A total of 51, 46 and 59 compounds were identified from C. nauseousus var. albicaulis, C. nauseousus var. consimilis and C. nauseousus var. glabratus, respectively, representing 97.1%, 96.0% and 96.2% of each of the oils listed. The major constituents of C. nauseousus var. albicaulis were β-pinene (16.8%), limonene (18.6%) and β-phellandrene (26.0%); the main constituents of C. nauseousus var. consimilis were limonene (33.2%), β-phellandrene (18.0%) and (Z)-β-ocimene (14.6%). The major constituents of C. nauseousus var. glabratus were β-pinene (30.3%), myrcene (10.5%), limonene (16.5%) and β-phellandrene (10.9%).

Item does not contain fulltext Major botanical and scientific references currently identify two species of frankincense, Boswellia carterii and Boswellia sacra, as being synonymous. We evaluated the Somalian (B. carterii) and Omani/Yemeni (B. sacra) species by chemical analyses to determine if there were any minor or major differences between the two species of frankincense. Components identified with their average percent for B. sacra are alpha-thujene (0.6%), alpha-pinene (68.2%), camphene (2.1%), sabinene (2.9%), beta-pinene (2.0%), myrcene (0.7%), limonene+beta-phellandrene (6.2%). Components identified with their average percent for B. carterii are alpha-thujene (7.9%), alpha-pinene (37.3%), camphene (0.8%), sabinene (4.9%), beta-pinene (1.8%), myrcene (7.3%), limonene+beta-phellandrene (14.4%). Initially, GC-MS analysis did not reveal major statistical differences. However, optical rotation values, B. Sacra (+30.1 degrees ) and B. carterii (-13.3 degrees ), demonstrated a greater significant difference. Enantiomeric ratio (+)/(-) values of alpha-pinene for B. sacra and B. carterii are 8.24 and 0.68, respectively, were also calculated aiding our conclusion that B. sacra and B. carterii are not synonymous but rather two distinct and individual frankincense species.

The steam-distilled essential oil from stem part of Bursera graveolens was analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The oil was found to consist of monoterpenes (78.2%) and sesquiterpenes (9.6%). The major constituents of B. graveolens oil were limonene (58.6%), and α- terpineol (10.9%).