Chemical composition, anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activities of essential oils from Zanthoxylum myriacanthum Wall. ex Hook. f. fruits, leaves and stems collected in Lam Dong province

Abstract

Essential oils extracted by hydrodistillation from fruits, leaves, and stems of Z. myriacanthum collected in Bidoup-Nui Ba National Park, Lam Dong province, Vietnam were investigated for their chemical composition and bioactivity. 51 compounds were identified in the fruit oil (ZMFR), of which p-cymen-8-ol (24.9%) and β-pinene (24.3%) were the most abundant. The leaf oil (ZML) contained 32 identified constituents, mainly ρ-methyl-acetophenone (29.9%), α-terpineol (17.0%), ar-curcumene (9.5%), (E)-carpacin (7.7%), 2-undecanone (6.6%) and 2-tridecanone (5.9%). The stem oil (ZMS) consisted of 23 compounds, the major ones being ar-curcumene (44.6%), terpinen-4-ol (13.2%), (1R,2R,4R)-4-(2-hydroxypropan-2-yl)-1-methylcyclohexane-1,2-diol (8.8%) and α-terpineol (8.4%). ZMFR exhibited moderate NO production inhibition in macrophage RAW 264.7 cells with an IC50 value of 42.35 ± 2.63 g/mL. ZMFR and ZML showed moderate cytotoxic effects on SK-LU-1, MCF-7, and HepG2 cancer cell lines with the IC50 values ranging from 50.97 ± 4.07 to 93.78 ± 3.67g/mL. ZMS was cytotoxic against HepG2 (IC50 = 69.84 ± 4.71 g/mL) and MCF-7 (IC50 = 89.28 ± 5.50 g/mL), and showed minimal effect on SK-LU-1. The anti-inflammatory and cytotoxic activities of Z. myriacanthum essential oils were evaluated and reported for the first time.