INVESTIGATION ON CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, ANTIMICROBIAL, ANTIOXIDANT, AND CYTOTOXIC PROPERTIES OF ESSENTIAL OIL FROM DRACOCEPHALUM KOTSCHYI BOISS.

BACKGROUND: Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss is a herb with wide-spread applications. Lorestan traditional healers have applied it for the treatment of rheumatoid diseases and stomach disorders. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Hydrodistillation process was used for essential oil extraction, the extracted essential oil was then analyzed through combination of capillary GC-FID, GC-MS and RI. The in vitro antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities of this essential oil were examined. Results indicate that the essential oil has a broad range of anti-microbial activity against all of the tested microorganisms. RESULTS: The 50% of cytotoxic concentrations was 26.4 μg/ml and 4266.7 μg/ml for Hela cells and human lymphocytes, respectively. The oil cytotoxicity against the human tumor cell line was far higher than the amount required for human healthy cells. Conversely, the essential oil's IC(50) value of 49.2 μg/ml in the DPPH assay, could be regarded as its strong antioxidant potential. CONCLUSION: According to the data obtained, it can be concluded that D. kotschyi essential oil could be applied as a safe antibacterial and antioxidant agent for food and pharmaceutical purposes.