title: Composition and potential anticancer activities of essential oils obtained from myrrh and frankincense.
abstract: The present study aimed to investigate the composition and potential anticancer activities of essential oils obtained from two species, myrrh and frankincense, by hydrodistillation. Using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), 76 and 99 components were identified in the myrrh and frankincense essential oils, respectively, with the most abundant components, 2-Cyclohexen-1-one, 4-ethynyl-4-hydroxy-3,5,5-trimethyl- andn-Octylacetate, accounting for 12.01 and 34.66%, respectively. The effects of the two essential oils, independently and as a mixture, on five tumor cell lines, MCF-7, HS-1, HepG2, HeLa and A549, were investigated using the MTT assay. The results indicated that the MCF-7 and HS-1 cell lines showed increased sensitivity to the myrrh and frankincense essential oils compared with the remaining cell lines. In addition, the anticancer effects of myrrh were markedly increased compared with those of frankincense, however, no significant synergistic effects were identified. The flow cytometry results indicated that apoptosis may be a major contributor to the biological efficacy of MCF-7 cells.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Harbin Medical University-Daqing, Daqing, Heilongjiang 163319, P.R. China ; Biopharmaceutical Institute of the Heilongjiang Academy of Medical Sciences, Harbin, Heilongjiang 158000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yingli
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Chunlan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Zhendan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Yufa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yuming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Weiyi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Sen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Guoyou
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Taiming
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wei
keywords: antiproliferative activity; apoptosis; essential oil; frankincense; gas chromatography mass spectrometry; myrrh