Citral and carvone chemotypes from the essential oils of Colombian Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E. Brown: composition, cytotoxicity and antifungal activity

• Published in: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz Vol. 104; no. 6; pp. 878 - 884
• Main Authors: Mesa-Arango, Ana Cecilia, Montiel-Ramos, Jehidys, Zapata, Bibiana, Durán, Camilo, Betancur-Galvis, Liliana, Stashenko, Elena
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz 01.09.2009; Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde; Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ)
• Subjects: antifungal activity; Antifungal Agents - isolation & purification; Antifungal Agents - pharmacology; Aspergillus - drug effects; Candida - drug effects; cytotoxicity; cytotoxicity - monoterpenes; essential oil; Lippia - chemistry; Lippia alba; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; monoterpenes; Monoterpenes - isolation & purification; Monoterpenes - pharmacology; Oils, Volatile - chemistry; Oils, Volatile - pharmacology; PARASITOLOGY; Plant Oils - chemistry; Plant Oils - pharmacology; TROPICAL MEDICINE; Lippia alba; essential oil; antifungal activity; cytotoxicity; monoterpenes
• ISSN: 1678-8060; 0074-0276; 1678-8060; 0074-0276
• DOI: 10.1590/s0074-02762009000600010

Two essential oils of Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E. Brown (Verbenacea), the carvone and citral chemotypes and 15 of their compounds were evaluated to determine cytotoxicity and antifungal activity. Cytotoxicity assays for both the citral and carvone chemotypes were carried out with tetrazolium-dye, which showed a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect against HeLa cells. Interestingly, this effect on the evaluated cells (HeLa and the non-tumoural cell line, Vero) was lower than that of commercial citral alone. Commercial citral showed the highest cytotoxic activity on HeLa cells. The antifungal activity was evaluated against Candida parapsilosis , Candida krusei , Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus fumigatus strains following the standard protocols, Antifungal Susceptibility Testing Subcommittee of the European Committee on Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing and CLSI M38-A. Results demonstrated that the most active essential oil was the citral chemotype, with geometric means-minimal inhibitory concentration (GM-MIC) values of 78.7 and 270.8 μg/mL for A. fumigatus and C. krusei, respectively. Commercial citral showed an antifungal activity similar to that of the citral chemotype (GM-MIC values of 62.5 μg/mL for A. fumigatus and 39.7 μg/mL for C. krusei). Although the citronellal and geraniol were found in lower concentrations in the citral chemotype, they had significant antifungal activity, with GM-MIC values of 49.6 μg/mL for C. krusei and 176.8 μg/mL for A. fumigatus.