Abstract
BACKGROUND: Many modern pharmaceutical researchers continue to focus on the discovery and evaluation of natural compounds for possible therapies for obesity, diabetes, infections, cancer, and oxidative stress. Extraction of Ocimum basilicum seed essential oil and evaluation of its antioxidant, anti-obesity, antidiabetic, antibacterial, and cytotoxic activities were the goals of the current study. METHOD: O. basilicum seed essential oil was extracted and evaluated for its anticancer, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-obesity, and anti-diabetic properties utilizing standard biomedical assays. RESULTS: O. basilicum seed essential oil showed good anticancer activity against Hep3B (IC(50) 56.23 ± 1.32 µg/ml) and MCF-7 (80.35 ± 1.17 µg/ml) when compared with the positive control, Doxorubicin. In addition, the essential oil showed potent antibacterial (against Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and antifungal (against Candida albicans) activities. Moreover, as for the anti-amylase test, IC(50) was 74.13 ± 1.1 µg/ml, a potent effect compared with the IC(50) of acarbose, which was 28.10 ± 0.7 µg/ml. On the other hand, for the anti-lipase test, the IC(50) was 112.20 ± 0.7 µg/ml a moderate effect compared with the IC(50) of orlistat, which was 12.30 ± 0.8 µg/ml. Finally, the oil had a potent antioxidant effect with an IC(50) of 23.44 ± 0.9 µg/ml compared with trolox (IC(50) was 2.7 ± 0.5 µg/ml). CONCLUSION: This study has provided initial data that supports the importance of O. basilcum essential oil in traditional medicine. The extracted oil not only exhibited significant anticancer, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties but also antidiabetic and anti-obesity effects, which provided a foundation for future research.