In vitro antiproliferative activity of Melissa officinalis L (Lamiaceae) leaves essential oil

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the antiproliferative activity of essential oil from leaves of Melissa officinalis L. grown in Southern Bosnia and Herzegovina. In vitro evaluation of antiproliferative activity of the M. officinalis essential oil was carried out on three human tumor cell lines: MCF-7, NCI-H460 and MOLT-4 by MTT assay. M. officinalis essential oil was characterized by high percentage of monoterpenes (77,5%), followed by the sesquiterpene fraction (14,5%) and aliphatic compounds (2,2%). The main constituents of the essential oil of M. officinalis are citral (47,2%), caryophyllene oxide (10,2%), citronellal (5,4%), geraniol (6,6%), geranyl acetate (4,1%) and βcaryophyllene (3,8%). The essential oil showed significant antiproliferative activity against three cancer cell lines, MOLT-4, MCF-7, and NCI-H460 cells, with GI50 values of <5, 6±2 and 31±17 µg/mL, respectively. The results revealed that M. officinalis L. essential oil has a potential as anticancer therapeutic agent.Resumen: En el presente estudio, investigamos la actividad antiproliferativa del aceite esencial de las hojas de Melissa officinalis L. cultivadas en el sur de Bosnia y Herzegovina. La evaluación in vitro de la actividad antiproliferativa del aceite esencial de M. officinalis se llevó a cabo en tres líneas celulares de tumores humanos: MCF-7, NCI-H460 y MOLT-4 utilizando el ensayo de MTT. El aceite esencial de M. officinalis se caracterizó por un alto porcentaje de monoterpenos (77,5%), seguido de la fracción sesquiterpénica (14,5%) y compuestos alifáticos (2,2%). Los principales constituyentes del aceite esencial de M. officinalis fueron citral (47,2%), óxido de cariofileno (10,2%), citronelal (5,4%), geraniol (6,6%), acetato de geranilo (4, 1%), y β-cariofileno (3,8%). El aceite esencial mostró una actividad antiproliferativa significativa contra las líneas celulares de cáncer MOLT-4, MCF-7 y NCI-H460, con valores GI50 de <5, 6±2 y 31±17 µg/mL, respectivamente. Los resultados revelaron que el aceite esencial de M. officinalis L. tiene potencial como agente terapéutico contra el cáncer.Palabras clave: Melissa officinalis L.; Aceite esencial; Agentes antiproliferativos; MOLT-4; MCF-7; NCI-H460 Recibido |

Chemical constituents of Ocotea paranaensis(Lauraceae) essential oil and their antioxidant, anticancer and antimicrobial properties

“…As shown in figure 2, any cytotoxic effect was observed, even in higher concentrations. Despite some studies proposing that oil concentrations between 10-50 μg/mL can inhibit cell growth, oils present a very low cytotoxic effect (Sylvestre et al, 2006;Niksic et al, 2019).The in vitro cytotoxicity of essential oils is related to the specific components that are present in its composition (Niksic et al, 2019). The low cytotoxic effect against H460 cells was reported for Ocotea gomezii (LD50 of 160 μg/mL for leaves; 119 μg/mL for bark and 414 μg/mL for wood) and Ocotea morae (LD50 of 353 μg/mL for leaves; 139 μg/mL for bark and 218 μg/mL for wood), which have different compounds in the essential oils of leaves, bark, and wood (Chaverri et al, 2011).…”

Melissa officinalis essential oil loaded polycaprolactone membranes: evaluation of antimicrobial activities and cytocompatibility for tissue engineering applications

“…M. officinalis is a very rich source of flavonoids and phenolics such as rosmarinic acid, gallic acid, thymol and carvacrol. These ingredients are cited as the potential cause of the antibacterial and antioxidant activity which has been emphasized in many studies [8,[15][16][17][18]. M. officinalis EO (MEO), in which 100 chemicals were detected in its structure, had antiparasitic, antispasmolytic, and antimicrobial effects [15,19].…”

“…In addition, the biofilm formation of Staphylococcus aureus was significantly inhibited [21]. The antiproliferative effect of EO obtained from M. officinalis leaves at concentrations lower than 31 µg ml −1 was examined by MOLT-4, MCF-7 and NCI-H460 cancer cell lines [18].…”