Chemical composition, biological properties of Anisomeles indica Kuntze essential oil

• Anisomeles indica Kuntze, leaf essential oil was investigated forthe biological properties.
• Essential oil contains 17 compounds,possesses antioxidant activity (IC50 9.86 μL/mL), fungi toxicity(MIC 0.66 μL/mL) against A. flavus.
• Essential oil completely inhibited aflatoxinB1 production in A. flavusG1 strain, partially in A. flavusG2 strain and is cytotoxic to cancer cell lines.
• Considering these merits, A. indica leaf essential oil may be exploited as the cost-effective food commodity preservative as it is a weed in the wild.

Plant essential oils are mixture of bioactive compounds that are useful to humankind as therapeutics and preservatives. Present report describes the determination of chemical composition of Anisomeles indica Kuntze leaf essential oil and exploration of its biological properties. Farnesyl acetone, nootkatone and jasmatone were the major components of 17 constituents identified in leaf essential oil of A. indica by GC–MS analysis. Essential oil was evaluated for its antioxidant, fungitoxic, anti-aflatoxigenic and cytotoxic properties. Essential oil exhibited strong antioxidant potential, with IC50 value 9.86 μL/mL. Fungitoxicity and anti-aflatoxigenic activity evaluated against Aspergillus flavus isolated from cereals and pulses, with minimum inhibitory concentration determined as 0.66 μL/mL. Essential oil inhibited AFB1 production completely at 0.6 μL/mL in G1 strain and partially in G2 strains of A. flavus. Cytotoxicity was examined in four human cancer cell lines HEK-293, HepG2, A549, K562 by MTT assay. Essential oil inhibited proliferation of all four cell lines with significantly stronger cytotoxicity in HepG2 cells. Results confirmed the functional characters of A. inidica leaf essential oil with special merits possessing antioxidant, fungitoxic, aflatoxin suppression and cytotoxicity. The potential of A. indica leaf essential oil as a cheaper source of active ingredients for food and pharmaceutical industry was demonstrated.