Open AccessChemical composition and biological activity of Mentha citrata Ehrh., essential oils growing in southern Algeria
Author(s) -
Hamza Ouakouak,
Naima Benchikha,
Aïcha Hassani,
Mohamed L. Ashour
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of food science and technology/journal of food science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.656
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 0975-8402
pISSN - 0022-1155
DOI - 10.1007/s13197-019-04005-z
Subject(s) - dpph , steam distillation , essential oil , chemistry , flame ionization detector , gas chromatography , chemical composition , chromatography , mass spectrometry , gas chromatography–mass spectrometry , botany , distillation , antioxidant , organic chemistry , biology
Three techniques, hydro distillation, steam distillation and microwave-assisted distillation, was used in this work to extract volatile secondary metabolites essential oils (EOs), from the aerial part of Mentha citrata Ehrh., plant (steams, leaves and flowers). The plant material was collected from a location called El-kobna in El-Oued province, southern Algeria during June 2018. The extracted Mentha citrata EOs, were analyzed using both gas chromatography coupled with flame ionization detector and gas chromatography attached with mass spectrometry detector techniques. The antioxidant activity of these EOs were evaluated in vitro using DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) free radicals scavenging activity and cytotoxic test. The results of the EOs analysis showed large variability of the chemical compositions for all techniques. Moreover, a promising cytotoxic activity on colon cancer cells was found.