Chemical composition, antimicrobial, cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of the essential oil of Artemisia indica Willd

Abstract: Essential oil from the aerial parts of Artemisia indica was analysed by GC-FID and GC–MS. A total of 43 compounds representing 96.8% of the oil were identified and the major components were found to be artemisia ketone (42.1%), germacrene B (8.6%), borneol (6.1%) and cis-chrysanthenyl acetate (4.8%). Antimicrobial activity of the oil was evaluated against seven clinically significant bacterial and two fungal strains. The essential oil and its major constituents exhibited moderate to potent, broad-spectrum antibacterial and antifungal activities targeting both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. In vitro cytotoxicity evaluation against four human cancer cell lines THP-1 (leukemia), A-549 (lung), HEP-2 (liver) and Caco-2 (colon) showed that the essential oil exhibited concentration dependant growth inhibition in the 10–100μg/ml dilution range, with IC50 values of 10μg/ml (THP-1), 25μg/ml (A-549), 15.5μg/ml (HEP-2) and 19.5μg/ml (Caco-2). It was interesting to note that the essential oil also exhibited potent antioxidant activity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]