Cytotoxicity Assessment of Siparuna cymosa Essential Oil in the Presence of Myeloid Leukemia Cells

This work presents the chemical characterization of the essential oil obtained from the Siparuna cymosa (Siparunaceae), an endemic species of the Atlantic Rainforest, as well as its cytotoxicity assessment in the presence of tumor cells. The oil was extracted from dry leaves by hydrodistillation and characterized (GC-FID, GC-MS); and its cytotoxicity was assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thyazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) colorimetric method in AML, Acute Myeloid Leukemia (THP-1) and CML, Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (K652) cell lines. The average oil content was 2.11% with the major compound being alpha-bisabolol (68.9%) and, in significant amounts, p-cymen-9-ol (7.9%) and spathulenol (3.7%). The IC50 obtained were the 25.44 +/- 1.55 mu g mL(-1) (CML), and 30.88 +/- 2.45 mu g mL(-1) (AML). The essential oil exhibits moderate cytotoxic action in the presence of leukemia cells, especially AML, for which the selectivity index was higher.