Biological activity of the essential oil of Myrcianthes sp. nov. "black fruit" from Monteverde, Costa Rica

Exploring Southern Ecuador's Traditional Medicine: Biological Screening of Plant Extracts and Metabolites

Ecuador stands as a nation inheriting a profound ancestral legacy in the utilization of medicinal plants, reflective of the rich biodiversity embraced by various ethnic groups. Despite this heritage, many of these therapeutic resources remain insufficiently explored concerning their toxicity and potential pharmacological effects. This study focused on a comprehensive evaluation of cytotoxicity and the potential subcellular targets within various extracts and nine isolated metabolites from carefully selected medicinal plants. Assessing their impact on the breast cancer cell line (MCF7), we subsequently examined the most active fractions for effects on the cell cycle, microtubule network, centrosome duplication, γH2AX foci, and E-cadherin. The investigated crude extracts and isolated compounds from Ecuadorian medicinal plants demonstrated cytotoxic effects, influencing diverse cellular pathways. These findings lend credence to the traditional uses of Ecuadorian medicinal plants, which have served diverse therapeutic purposes. Moreover, they beckon the exploration of the specific chemicals, whether in isolation or combination, responsible for these observed activities.

Chemical Composition and Cytotoxic Activity of the Leaf Essential Oil of Ocotea tonduzii from Monteverde, Costa Rica

The leaf essential oil of Ocotea tonduzii from Monteverde, Costa Rica has been obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-MS. The principal constituents of O. tonduzii leaf oil were the monoterpenes α-pinene (41.4%) and pinene (25.1%) and the sesquiterpenes α-humulene (6.9%), β-caryophyllene (5.8%), and germacrene D (3.8%). O. tonduzii leaf oil was notably cytotoxic on MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, MDA-MB-468, and UACC-257 cells in vitro. The major essential oil components showed cytotoxic activities comparable to doxorubicin ( LC50, 20–70 μg/mL).

Cruzain Inhibitory Activity of the Leaf Essential Oil from an Undescribed Species of Eugenia from Monteverde, Costa Rica

The leaf essential oil of Eugenia sp. nov. “San Bosco” inhibits cruzain, a cysteine protease from Trypanosoma cruzi, the parasitic protozoan responsible for Chagas disease, with an IC50 of 36.4 μg/mL. Eugenia “San Bosco” leaf oil is dominated by the sesquiterpene hydrocarbons zingiberene (24.7%) and germacrene D (11.1%), and these two compounds (IC50 = 8.6 and 21.2 μg/mL, respectively) are likely responsible for the cruzain inhibitory activity observed in the essential oil.

Biological Activities of Essential Oils from Monteverde, Costa Rica

Essential oils from Calyptranthes pittieri (Lauraceae), Cinnamomum tonduzii (Lauraceae), Croton niveus and C. monteverdensis (Euphorbiaceae), Dendropanax arboreus (Araliaceae), Eugenia austin-smithii and E. haberi (Myrtaceae), Myrcianthes fragrans and M. rhopaloides (Myrtaceae), Nectandra membranacea (Lauraceae), Ocotea floribunda (Lauraceae), Oreopanax xalapensis (Araliaceae), Piper umbellatum (Piperaceae), Psidium guajava (Myrtaceae), Stauranthus perforatus (Rutaceae), Zanthoxylum acuminatum, Z. melanostictum, Z. monophyllum, and Zanthoxylum sp. nov. “brillante” (Rutaceae), have been screened for cytotoxic activity against a panel of human tumor cell lines, antibacterial activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as well as brine shrimp (Artemia salina) lethality.

Phytochemical analysis and evaluation of the cytotoxic, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of essential oils from three Plectranthus species grown in Saudi Arabia

Background

Cancers and microbial infections are still a major health problem, therefore research on new anticancer and antimicrobial agents ought to be continued. Natural products including essential oils from medicinal plants continue to be an important resource to manage various diseases. Thus, the particular objectives of this study are to investigate the chemical composition, cytotoxic, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of three Plectranthus species namely P. cylindraceus Hocst. ex Benth., P. asirensis JRI Wood and P. barbatus Andrews grown in Saudi Arabia.

Methods

The essential oils of the three Plectranthus species were obtained by hydrodistllation and analyzed using GC/FID and GC-MS. The essential oils were further assessed for their cytotoxic, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. Determination of the cytotoxic activity was carried out against Hela, HepG2 and HT-29 cancer cell lines by utilizing MTT-assay. The antimicrobial activity was assessed against six bacterial and fungal strains by using broth micro-dilution assay. In addition, the antioxidant activity was evaluated utilizing the DPPH and β-Carotene-linoleic acid assays.

Results

The GC/FID and GC-MS analysis led to the identification of 59, 60 and 42 compounds representing 89.0% 95.0 and 97.1% of the total essential oils of P. cylindraceus, P. asirensis and P. barbatus, respectively. The essential oils were characterized by a high content of oxygenated sesquiterpenes in P. cylindraceus, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons in P. asirensis and monoterpene hydrocarbons in P. barbatus where maaliol (42.8%), β-caryophyllene (13.3%) and α-pinene, (46.2%) were the predominant compounds. Additionally, the oils particularly of P. cylindraceus and P. barbatus exhibited remarkable cytotoxic and antimicrobial activities with IC₅₀-values between 3.8 and 7.5 μg/mL and MIC-values ranging from 0.137 to 4.40 mg/mL. Moreover, the oils showed moderate to high radical scavenging and antioxidative activities ranging from 52 to 75% at the highest concentration of 1 mg/mL.

Conclusions

The observed results back the suggestion that these three Plectranthus species represent a promising source of cytotoxic and antimicrobial agents.

Essential oil of Tridax procumbens L induces apoptosis and suppresses angiogenesis and lung metastasis of the B16F-10 cell line in C57BL/6 mice

BACKGROUND

To determine the effect of essential oil obtained from a traditionally used medicinal plant Tridax procumbens L, on lung metastasis developed by B16F-10 melanoma cells in C57BL/6 mice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Parameters studied were toxicity, lung tumor nodule count, histopathological features, tumor directed capillary vessel formation, apoptosis and expression levels of P53 and caspase-3 proteins.

RESULTS

In vitro the MTT assay showed cytotoxicity was found to be high as 70.2% of cancer cell death within 24 hrs for 50 μg. In vivo oil treatment significantly inhibited tumor nodule formation by 71.7% when compared with untreated mice. Formation of tumor directed new blood vessels was also found to be inhibited to about 39.5%. TUNEL assays also demonstrated a significant increase in the number of apoptotic positive cells after the treatment. P53 and caspase-3 expression was also found to be greater in the essential oil treated group than the normal and cancer group.

CONCLUSIONS

The present investigation showed significant effects of the essential oil of Tridax procumbens L in preventing lung metastasis by B16F-10 cell line in C57BL/6 mice. Its specific preventive effect on tumor directed angiogenesis and inducing effect on apoptosis warrant further studies at the molecular level to validate the significance of Tridax procumbens L for anticancer therapy.

In Vitro Cytotoxic Potential of Essential Oils of Eucalyptus benthamii and Its Related Terpenes on Tumor Cell Lines

Eucalyptus L. is traditionally used for many medicinal purposes. In particular, some Eucalyptus species have currently shown cytotoxic properties. Local Brazilian communities have used leaves of E. benthamii as a herbal remedy for various diseases, including cancer. Considering the lack of available data for supporting this cytotoxic effect, the goal of this paper was to study the in vitro cytotoxic potential of the essential oils from young and adult leaves of E. benthamii and some related terpenes (α-pinene, terpinen-4-ol, and γ-terpinene) on Jurkat, J774A.1 and HeLa cells lines. Regarding the cytotoxic activity based on MTT assay, the essential oils showed improved results than α-pinene and γ-terpinene, particularly for Jurkat and HeLa cell lines. Terpinen-4-ol revealed a cytotoxic effect against Jurkat cells similar to that observed for volatile oils. The results of LDH activity indicated that cytotoxic activity of samples against Jurkat cells probably involved cell death by apoptosis. The decrease of cell DNA content was demonstrated due to inhibition of Jurkat cells proliferation by samples as a result of cytotoxicity. In general, the essential oils from young and adult leaves of E. benthamii presented cytotoxicity against the investigated tumor cell lines which confirms their antitumor potential.

Drugs from the Cloudforest: The Search for New Medicines from Monteverde, Costa Rica

The University of Alabama in Huntsville Natural Products Research Group has been investigating the phytopharmaceutical potential of tropical rainforest higher plants from the Monteverde region of northwestern Costa Rica for the past twenty years. The group has focused primarily on anticancer agents, antimicrobial agents, and antiparasitic agents. This review presents an overview of some of our efforts in natural products drug discovery from Monteverde, Costa Rica.

Melissa officinalis L. essential oil: antitumoral and antioxidant activities

Melissa officinalis L (lemon balm) is a traditional herbal medicine used widely as a mild sedative, spasmolytic and antibacterial agent. This paper focuses on the analysis of the chemical composition and the biological activities of M. officinalis essential oil obtained under controlled harvesting and drying conditions. An in-vitro cytotoxicity assay using MTT indicated that this oil was very effective against a series of human cancer cell lines (A549, MCF-7, Caco-2, HL-60, K562) and a mouse cell line (B16F10). This oil possessed antioxidant activity, as evidenced by reduction of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH). These results pointed to the potential use of M. officinalis essential oil as an antitumoral agent.

Chemical composition, cytotoxic activity and antimicrobial activity of essential oils of leaves and berries of Juniperus phoenicea L. grown in Egypt

Hydrodistillation of berries and leaves of Juniperus phoenicea grown in Sinai yielded volatile oils in the yield of 0.36 and 1.96%, respectively. Using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry technique, fifty eight compounds were identified in berry oil representing 99.2% of the oil composition. alpha-Pinene was the major compound in berry oil (39.30%) followed by sabinene (24.29%). Berry oil composed mainly of monoterpenoids which amounted to 90.53%, of which 72.85% was monoterpene hydrocarbons. The sesquiterpenoids accounted for about 8% of the total oil composition. Leaf oil was composed of about 66 compounds representing 99.16% of the total composition of the oil. alpha-Pinene was the major constituent of leaf oil at concentration of 38.22%, followed by alpha-cedrol (31.23%). The monoterpene hydrocarbon was the predominant chemical group (41.29%) followed by the oxygenated sesquiterpenes (32.21%). Both oils showed very high cytotoxic activities against all cell line tested. They showed equal activities against brain (0.6 microg/ml) and cervix (5.0 microg/ml) human cell lines, while berry oil was slightly more active than leaf oil against lung (0.6 and 0.7 micro/ml, respectively), liver (0.7 and 0.9 microg/ml, respectively) and breast human cell lines (0.8 and 1. microg/ml, respectively).The antimicrobial activity and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of leaf and berry oils were also determined. The oils showed high activity against most of the tested strains.

Chemical Composition and Bioactivity of the Leaf Oil of Calyptranthes pallens (Poir.) Griseb. from Abaco Island, Bahamas

The leaf oil of Calyptranthes pallens was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC/MS. The most abundant oil components were the monoterpenoids α-pinene (24.7%), α-terpineol (13.8%), and trans-pinocarveol (11.6%). The antimicrobial activity against Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, and Aspergillus niger, and the in-vitro cytotoxicity of the oil on Hep G2, MDA-MB-231, Hs 578T, and PC-3 human tumor cells were also examined.

1,3,5-Trimethoxybenzene and 2,4,6-Trimethoxystyrene are the Major Components in the Leaf Oil of Eugenia confusa from Abaco Island, Bahamas

The leaf oil of Eugenia confusa was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-MS. The most abundant components were 1,3,5-trimethoxybenzene (74.0%) and 2,4,6-trimethoxystyrene (20.7%).

Leaf essential oil composition of five Zanthoxylum species from Monteverde, Costa Rica

The leaf essential oils from five species of Zanthoxylum (Rutaceae) from Monteverde, Costa Rica, have been obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The species examined include Z. fagara, Z. acuminatum, Z. melanostictum, Z. monophyllum, and an undescribed species. The most abundant classes of compounds found in Zanthoxylum leaf oils are acyclic and menthane monoterpenoids as well as simple alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones. In terms of molecular diversity, menthane and acyclic monoterpenoids, cadinane and mesocyclic sesquiterpenoids, and simple alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones dominate the essential oils of Zanthoxylum species. Monoterpenoids make up the majority of the mass of the leaf oils of Z. monophyllum, Z. acuminatum, Z. fagara, and Zanthoxylum sp. nov. Linalool, 4-terpineol, alpha-terpineol, and trans-2-hexenol, are found in all of the Zanthoxylum species examined in this study.