Volatile compounds analysis and antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of Mindium laevigatum

Mindium laevigatum is an endemic plant of Iran and Turkey and is widely used as blood purifier, antiasthma and antidyspnea in traditional medicine. Chemical composition of volatile materials of the plant and its antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities were reported in this study.
Simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE) and GC-Mass-FID analysis were used for the plant volatile materials chemical composition identification and quantification. Several antioxidant tests including DPPH radical scavenging, hydrogen peroxide scavenging, reducing power determination, β-carotene-linoleic acid and total phenolic content tests were used for antioxidant activity evaluation. Antimicrobial and anticancer activities were also estimated using microbial strains, cancer cell lines and brine shrimp larva.
GC-Mass-FID analysis of volatile samples showed a total of 74 compounds of which palmitic acid (7.4-33.7%), linoleic acid (6.6-18.6%), heneicosane (1.3-9.6%) and myristic acid (1.4-6.0%) were detected as main volatile components. Moderate to good results were recorded for the plant in β-carotene-linoleic acid test. Total phenolic content of the extracts as gallic acid equivalents were estimated in the range of 15.7 to 79.6 μg/mg. Some microbial strains showed moderate sensitivities to plant extracts. Brine shrimp lethality test and cytotoxic cancer cell line assays showed mild cytotoxic activities for the plant.
Moderate to good antioxidant activities in β-carotene-linoleic acid test and presence of considerable amounts of unsaturated hydrocarbons may explain the plant traditional use in asthma and dyspnea. These findings also candidate it as a good choice for investigating its possible modern medical applications.