Chemical Composition, Cytotoxic and Antibacterial Activities of Essential Oils of Cultivated Clones of Juniperus communis and Wild Juniperus Species

Abstract

Needles of seven cultivated clones (C1 – C7) of Juniperus communis at lower altitude and three wild Juniperus species (J. communis, J. recurva and J. indica) at higher altitudes were investigated comparatively for their essential oils (EOs) yields, chemical composition, cytotoxic and antibacterial activities. The EOs yields varied from 0.26 to 0.56% (v/w) among samples. Sixty‐one volatile components were identified by gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and quantified using gas chromatography GC (FID) representing 82.5 – 95.7% of the total oil. Monoterpene hydrocarbons (49.1 – 82.8%) dominated in all samples (α‐pinene, limonene and sabinene as major components). Principal component analysis (PCA) of GC data revealed that wild and cultivated Juniperus species are highly distinct due to variation in chemical composition. J. communis (wild species) displayed cytotoxicity against SiHa (human cervical cancer), A549 (human lung carcinoma) and A431 (human skin carcinoma) cells (66.4 ± 2.2%, 74.4 ± 1.4% and 57.4 ± 4.0%), respectively, at 200 μg/ml. EOs exhibited better antibacterial activity against Gram‐positive bacteria than against Gram‐negative bacteria with the highest zone of inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus MTCC 96 (19.2 ± 0.7) by clone‐7. As per the conclusion of the findings, EOs of clone‐2, clone‐5 and clone‐7 can be suggested to the growers of lower altitude, as there is more possibility of uses of these EOs in food and medicinal preparations.

Biological investigations of essential oils extracted from threeJuniperusspecies and evaluation of their antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities

“…Data are the mean AE SD of three experiments *P < 0Á05, **P < 0Á01, ***P < 0Á001, ****P < 0Á0001 vs DMSO. [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] with a-pinene, the main component in all researches considered (Cabral et al 2012;Maurya et al 2018;Vasilijevi c et al 2018). Moreover, our EO of J. communis resulted more cytotoxic than J. scopulorum and J. horizontalis EOs, probably due to the presence of a-pinene (67-80%), reported as an apoptotic and antimetastatic compound (Matsuo et al 2011), that instead was present in very low percentages in the other two EOs (2Á3-13%).…”

“…Our results showed that J. communis EO has a stronger cytotoxic activity than the other two tested EOs, with 81% cell death after a treatment with 100 µg ml À1 for 24 h. Few studies reported the cytotoxicity of J. communis EO on different cell lines, but no studies have been carried out to verify the cytotoxicity of J. scopulorum and J. horizontalis EOs on neuroblastoma or other cell lines. Maurya et al (2018) demonstrated that the EO from fresh needles of J. communis from India was weakly cytotoxic against SiHa, A549 and A431 cell lines with IC 50 values of 150Á6, 134Á4 and 98Á0 lg ml À1 , after a treatment of 48 h, respectively. Vasilijevi c et al (2018) reported an IC 50 of 120 and 69Á4 lg ml À1 against MRC-7 and A549 cell lines after a treatment of 24 h with the EO from seed cones J. communis var.…”

“…Maurya et al . (2018) demonstrated that the EO from fresh needles of J. communis from India was weakly cytotoxic against SiHa, A549 and A431 cell lines with IC 50 values of 150·6, 134·4 and 98·0 μg ml −1 , after a treatment of 48 h, respectively. Vasilijević et al .…”

“…The EO from J. communis berries was more bioactive than the EO extracted from its leaves against Gram-positive (G+ve) and Gram-negative (GÀve) bacteria (Haziri et al 2013;Falcão et al 2018;Zheljazkov et al 2018). Moreover, the possible cytotoxic activity of the EOs from different juniper species has been reported (Topҫu et al 2005;El-Sawi et al 2007;Maurya et al 2018;Vasilijevi c et al 2018). Zheljazkov et al (2017) reported the possible antimicrobial activities against 10 human pathogen micro-organisms.…”

Exploring new horizons in health care: A mechanistic review on the potential of Unani medicines in combating epidemics of infectious diseases

“…Anti-infectious (Razi, 2008) Fumigation (Razi, 2008) Antibacterial (Maurya et al, 2018) α-pinene, limonene, sabinene (Maurya et al, 2018) Laurus nobilis L., Lauraceae; fruit…”