Cytotoxic Activity of Cunila angustifolia Benth Essential Oil.

The Cunila angustifolia essential oil was obtained from fresh leaves by hydrodistillation, and analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS to determine its chemical composition. The essential oil presented the pulegone (29.5%) and isomenthol (27.0%) as major components, and other compounds such as menthone (8.6%), neomenthol (7.2%), menthyl acetate (2.5%) and caryophyllene oxide (2.0%) were identified. The cytotoxic activity of the essential oil was evaluated by MTS assay, with the human cancer cell lines of the lung (A549), breast (MCF-7) and skin melanoma (SK-Mel-28). The assay showed the highest selectivity, to MCF-7 cell lines, with IC 50 equal to 34.0μg·mL -1 , low selectivity for SK-Mel-28 cell line, with IC 50 equal to 279.9μg·mL -1 , and no mortality to A549 cell.