Chemical composition and toxicological evaluation of Hyptis suaveolens (L.) Poiteau (LAMIACEAE) in Drosophila melanogaster and Artemia salina

Hyptis suaveolens (L.) Poiteau, known as “Bamburral” is a plant widely used in Brazilian folk medicine, however, there are no toxicological studies to ascertain its safety. Thus, we aimed to investigate the phytochemical and toxic effects of essential oil and infusion of the dry leaves of H. suaveolens in Drosophila melanogaster and Artermia salina. The chemical composition of the essential oil was performed by CG-MS, while that of the infused extract was analyzed by HPLC-DAD. The toxicity of the essential oil-OE (3.03-30.3 μg/mL air) to D. melanogaster was performed by means of volatilization; and for infusion (2.5-20 mg/mL), they were submitted to ingestion and then submitted to locomotive activity by means of negative geotaxis. However, for acute toxicity, A. salina cysts were exposed for 24 h to the tested samples (10-1000 μg/mL). Our results demonstrated that OE had three major components: β-Caryophyllene (18.57%), sabinene (15.99%) and spathulenol (11.09%) while the leaf infusion showed caffeic acid as the major component (12.76 mg/g). H. suaveolens leaves infusion was not toxic to the organisms at all the concentrations tested (p > 0.05). However, OE behaved as quite toxic with LC50 of 15.5 and 49.72 μg/mL in D. melanogaster and A. salina, respectively. In addition, OE caused impairment of the locomotor behavior of flies. Therefore, our study indicates that more caution should be taken regarding the dosage and frequent use of H. suaveolens leaf essential oil.