Chemical composition,cytotoxicityand in vitro antitrypanosomal and antiplasmodial activity of the essential oils of four Cymbopogon species from Benin

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance:Cymbopogon species arelargelyusedinfolkmedicineforthetreatment of manydiseasessomeofwhichrelatedtoparasiticaldiseasesasfeversandheadaches.Aspartofour researchonantiparasiticessentialoilsfromBenineseplants,wedecidedtoevaluatethe in vitro antiplasmodial andantitrypanosomalactivitiesofessentialoilsoffour Cymbopogon species usedin traditional medicineaswellastheircytotoxicity. Materials andmethods: The essentialoilsoffour Cymbopogon species Cymbopogon citratus (I), Cymbopogon giganteus (II), Cymbopogon nardus (III) and Cymbopogon schoenantus (IV) fromBenin obtained byhydrodistillationwereanalysedbyGC/MSandGC/FIDandweretested in vitro against Trypanosomabruceibrucei and Plasmodium falciparum respectivelyforantitrypanosomalandantiplas- modial activities.Cytotoxicitywasevaluated in vitro against ChineseHamsterOvary(CHO)cellsandthe human noncancer fibroblastcellline(WI38)throughMTTassaytoevaluatetheselectivity. Results: All testedoilsshowedastrongantitrypanosomalactivitywithagoodselectivity.SampleIIwas the mostactiveagainst Trypanosomabruceibrucei and couldbeconsideredasagoodcandidate.Itwas less activeagainst Plasmodium falciparum. SamplesII,IIIandIVhadlowornocytotoxicity,butthe essential oilof Cymbopogon citratus (I), wastoxicagainstCHOcellsandmoderatelytoxicagainstWI38 cells andneedsfurthertoxicologicalstudies.SampleI(29compounds)wascharacterisedbythepresence as mainconstituentsofgeranial,neral, β-pinene and cis-geraniol;sampleII(53compounds)by trans-pmentha- 1(7),8-dien-2-ol, trans-carveol, trans-p-mentha-2,8-dienol, cis-p-mentha-2,8-dienol, cis-pmentha- 1(7),8-dien-2-ol, limonene, cis-carveol and cis-carvone; sampleIII(28compounds)by β- citronellal, nerol, β-citronellol, elemolandlimoneneandsampleIV(41compounds)bypiperitone, (þ)-2-carene, limonene,elemoland β-eudesmol. Conclusions: Our studyshowsthatessentialoilsof Cymbopogon genus canbeagoodsourceof antitrypanosomal agents.Thisisthe first reportontheactivityoftheseessentialoilsagainst Trypanosomabruceibrucei, Plasmodium falciparum and analysisoftheircytotoxicity.