title: In vitro cytotoxic activity guided essential oil composition of flowering twigs of Stevia rebaudiana.
abstract: The essential oil extracted by hydrodistillation from the flowering twigs of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni (Asteraceae) was fractioned by chromatography. Forty-three constituents were characterized with the help of GC, GC-MS and other spectroscopic techniques. The essential oil was found to be a complex mixture of mono- and sesqui-terpenes. The cytotoxicity of the essential oil and its fractions was evaluated by sulforhodamine B (SRB) based assay against two cancer cell types viz. C-6 (rat glioma cells) and CHOK1 (Chinese hamster ovary cells). The essential oil and its fractions showed promising cytotoxicity against both cell lines. The highest activity (95.6+/-0.6%) was show by the essential oil on the C-6 cell line at a concentration of 400 microg/mL, which was comparable with that of the standard drug vinblastin.
authors.forename: Tavleen S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: Vijai K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Agnihotri
authors.forename: Dharmesh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Probir K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Pal
authors.forename: Rajkesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Koundal
authors.forename: Ashish
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Yogendra S
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Padwad
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016466:CHO Cells; D006224:Cricetinae; D003412:Cricetulus; D035264:Flowers; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D036625:Stevia / Q000737:chemistry*; D014747:Vinblastine / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic; D009822:Oils, Volatile; D014747:Vinblastine