The potential of plant essential oils (EOs) in anticancer treatment has recently received many research efforts to overcome the development of multidrug resistance and their negative side effects. The aims of the current research are to study (i) the cytotoxic effect of the crude EO extracted from Origanum vulgare subsp hirtum and its main constituents (carvacrol, thymol, citral and limonene) on hepatocarcinoma HepG2 and healthy human renal cells HEK293; (ii) the antibacterial and phytotoxic activities of the above EO and its main constituents. Results showed that cell viability percentage of treated HepG2 by EO and its main constituents was significantly decreased when compared to untreated cells. The calculated inhibition concentration (IC50) values for HepG2 were lower than healthy renal cells, indicating the sort of selectivity of the studied substances. Citral is not potentially recommended as an anticancer therapeutic agent, since there are no significant differences between IC50 values against both tested cell lines. Results showed also that oregano EO and its main constituents have a significant antibacterial activity and a moderate phytotoxic effect. The current research verified that oregano EO and its main constituents could be potentially utilized as anticancer therapeutic agents.
Keywords: GC-MS analysis; antibacterial activity; anticancer therapeutic agents; liver tumor cell line; phytotoxic activity; renal cell line.