Cytotoxic activity of α-humulene and transcaryo- phyllene from Salvia officinalis in animal and human tumor cells

Abstract

Background: The purpose of the present work is two-fold: the fractionation of Salvia officinalis essential oil and the cytotoxic study of this oil with its fractions �in vitro� tumor cell lines. Materials and Methods: S. officinalis essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and fractionated with column chromatography; the essential oil and its fractions were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS). The cytotoxic activity was evaluated in cellular lines of breast cancer MCF-7, colon cancer HCT-116, and murine macrophage RAW264.7 cell lines by the MTT assay. Results: the sub-subfraction F1.1.1 of S. officinalis essential oil containing a-humulene present highest activity on RAW264.7 and HCT-116 with IC50 values of 41.9 and 77.3 µg/ml, respectively. The sub-subfraction F1.2.1 of S. officinalis essential oil with trans-caryophyllene showed less activity on RAW246.7 and HCT-116 with IC50 values of 90.5 and 145.8 µg/ml. Conclusion: This paper suggests that the a-humulene and trans-caryophyllene extracted from S.officinalis essential oil inhibit tumor cell growth.