Essential oil from the leaves of Elsholtzia communis (Collett & Hemsl.) Diels from North East India: Studies on chemical profiling, antimicrobial, cytotoxic and ACE inhibitory activities.

Elsholtzia communis (Collett & Hemsl.) Diels (family: Lamiaceae) is a wild edible plant employed as a remedy for skin irritation and consumed as vegetables by the indigenous tribes of North East, India. In view of its traditional uses, our present study aims to characterize the chemical constituents of the essential oil isolated from the leaf of E communis and evaluate its antimicrobial, cytotoxic, antioxidant and angiotensin‐I‐converting enzyme inhibiting properties. GC‐FID and GC‐MS analyses of the essential oil led to the identification of fifty‐one compounds with a yield of 0.88% (v/w). 71.72% of compounds are identified under the category of oxygenated monoterpenes, where neral (28.85%) and geranial (24.1%) were the most prevalent compounds. Ethyl geranate (4.82%), methyl nerate (4.71%), piperitone (4.07%) and caryophyllene oxide (3.75%) were other major constituents of the oil. The oil displayed excellent antifungal properties against C albicans with MIC value of 7.5 ± 0.13 µg/mL, comparable with that of fluconazole (7.5 ± 0.25 µg/mL). Cytotoxic assay of the essential oil disclosed significant results with IC50 value of 8.09 ± 2.67 µg/mL and 26.13 ± 0.90 µg/mL against HeLa and L6 cell lines, respectively. DPPH scavenging capability was assessed using ascorbic acid (1.57 ± 0.001 µg/mL) as reference. The result explicates promising antioxidant behaviour of the oil (21.92 ± 0.074 µg/mL). The oil (23.82 ± 0.078 µg/mL) was also found to possess potential ACE inhibitory effects, with ramipril (9.35 ± 0.02 µg/mL) serving as standard. The diverse pharmacological properties of the essential oil truly justify its traditional uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]