Chemical composition and cytotoxic activity of the essential oil from the leaves of Casearia lasiophylla

The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from fresh leaves of Casearia lasiophylla Eichler, Salicaceae, was analyzed by gas capillary (GC/FID and GC/MS). The cytotoxicity of the leaves essential oil was tested in vitro against U251 (glioma), UACC-62 (melanoma), MCF-7 (breast), NC1-ADR/RES (ovarian-resistant), NCI-H460 (lung), PC03 (prostate), OVCAR-3 (ovarian), HT-29 (colon) and K562 (leukemia) human cancer cells and against VERO (no cancer cell). The yield of oil was 0.02%. Fifty two compounds were identified, representing 87.1% of the total of the oil. The main components were identified as germacrene D (18.6%), beta-caryophyllene (14.7%), delta-cadinene (6.2%), and alpha-cadinol (5.4%). The oil exhibited antiproliferative activity against all cell lines (TGI<100 mu g/mL), with exception of NCI-H460 cell line (TGI 191.31. mu g/mL). The highest activity was observed against UACC-62 (TGI 7.30 mu g/mL), and K562 (TGI 7.56 mu g/mL) cell lines. The observed activity could be related to high content of germacrene D and. beta-caryophyllene, compounds known as cytotoxic.