Chemical composition and biological activities of the essential oils from different parts of Ferulago trifida Boiss

Abstract

As a result of GC and GC-MS analysis of the essential oils from different parts of Ferulago trifida Boiss., a total of thirty-three compounds were identified in the flowers (Fl), stems (S), leaves (L) and fruits (Fr) essential oils, of which (E)-β-ocimene (Fl: 37.3, S: 20.7, L: 25.7, Fr: 30.5%), α-pinene (Fl: 16.3, S: 22.6, L: 19.6, Fr: 18.0%) and bornyl acetate (Fl: 9.4, S: 8.5, L: 16.7, Fr: 11.0%) were main compounds. Among the thrity-eight compounds identified in the roots essential oil, suberosin (20.7%), β-barbatene (6.6%) and cuparene (6.1%) were main compounds. All essential oils exhibited weak DPPH free radical scavenging activity (IC₅₀: 95–120 µg ml⁻¹). Among the tested samples flowers, fruits and roots essential oils by 72.1, 78.7 and 74.3% inhibition of Ach Enzyme, respectively, exhibited considerable AChE inhibitory effects in Elman method. They had moderate cytotoxic activity (IC₅₀: 15–55 µg ml⁻¹) on cancerous cell lines (MCF-7, A-549 and HT-29) in MTT assay.

Keywords:

• Ferulago trifida Boiss
• essential oil
• antimicrobial effect
• antioxidant
• AChE inhibitory effect
• MTT assay

Acknowledgement

The authors are grateful to Dr M. Agha ahmadi (Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran) for his kind help in collection of the plant and Professor V. Mozaffarian (Research Institute of Forest and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran) for identification of plant.