Herein, the antiproliferative potential of the essential oil obtained from fresh leaves of Croton campestris against human tumour cell lines was investigated for the first time. Furthermore, the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation had the composition determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Ten major components were identified that comprised 91.59% of the total content, with 23.8% consisting of (Z)-caryophyllene and 16.08% consisting of γ-elemene as main components. The cytotoxic activity was observed mainly for breast (MCF-7) and colon (HT-29) human tumour cell lines, with GI50 (50% growth inhibition) concentration of 8.61 and 9.94 μg/mL, respectively. The results of this study showed that the essential oil obtained from Croton campestris A.St.-Hil. represents a potential source for the search of new antitumour agents.
Keywords: Council for the Genetic Heritage Management (CGEN); antiproliferative activity; concentration necessary to cause 50% growth inhibition (GI); essential oil; essential oil from (EOCC); gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS); human tumour cell lines; natural products.