title: Bioassay screening of the essential oil and various extracts from 4 spices medicinal plants.
abstract: Four commonly used spices plants in Iran were evaluated for cytotoxicity effect using Brine Shrimp Lethality (BSL) assay. Essential oils and various extracts of Heracleum persicum, Nigella arvensis, Cinnamomum zeylanicum and Zingiber officinale were assessed by two methods of disk and solution of BSL. Data were processed in probit-analysis program to estimate LC50 values. All of the tested fractions have exhibited more cytotoxicity in the solution method. Essential oils of H. persicum and C. zeylanicum have shown the most cytotoxicity with LC50 values 0.007 and 0.03 microg/ml respectively. None of aqueous extracts showed significant cytotoxicity. The analysis of the essential oil of H. persicum showed the hexyl butyrate and octyl acetate as the main compounds. These results suggest some limitation for using of these spices in diet. Furthermore, these plants could be considered as a source of cytotoxic compounds which might be studied in more details.
authors: Department of Pharmacognosy, Pharmaceutical Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. fsharififar@Kmu.ac.ir
authors: Fariba
authors: F
authors: Sharififar
authors: Mohammad Hassan
authors: MH
authors: Moshafi
authors: Gholamreza
authors: G
authors: Dehghan-Nudehe
authors: Alieh
authors: A
authors: Ameri
authors: Fahimeh
authors: F
authors: Alishahi
authors: Amin
authors: A
authors: Pourhemati
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001156:Artemia / Q000187:drug effects; D001681:Biological Assay; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D007492:Iran; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity*; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D017365:Spices; D023382:Toxicity Tests, Acute
chemical_list: D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010936:Plant Extracts