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Essential Oil Composition, Antimicrobial, Cytotoxic, and Cyclooxygenase Inhibitory Areas of Activity of Pistacia lentiscus from Palestine

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Abstract

The current study aimed to extract and identify the chemical compounds of Pistacia lentiscus essential oil (PLEO) from Palestine and to assess its antimicrobial, cytotoxic, and cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitory activities. The hydro-distilled PLEO was analyzed utilizing the gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC–MS) apparatus. Pistacia lentiscus essential oil (PLEO) was tested for its antimicrobial properties utilizing a broth microdilution method. In addition, an MTS assay was employed to test the cytotoxic activity on a cervical cancer cell line (HeLa). An in-vitro COX inhibition test kit was used to measure the COX inhibitory activity. Twenty-nine molecules were characterized, representing 100% of the total PLEO. Limonene (43.78%), α-pinene (29.45%), and β-pinene (7.54%) were characterized as the major PLEO components. The results revealed that PLEO has broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against the tested microbial strains and has cytotoxic activity against HeLa cancer cells with an IC50 value of 169.68 ± 2.56 μg/ml. Promising COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitory activities were also demonstrated. The chemical components of PLEO from Palestine were identified here for the first time and showed biological effects against the screened microbes, HeLa cells, and COX enzyme. Further in-vivo investigations are required to assess these activities and other pharmacological effects.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences/Department of Pharmacy at An-Najah National University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, P.O. Box. 7, Nablus, 00970, Palestine

    Nidal Jaradat, Mohammed Hawash, Murad N. Abualhasan, Ola Ayesh, Roa’a Abu Marar, Hamsa Kharroub, Taqwa Abu-Hait & Mohammad Arar

  2. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, An-Najah National University, P.O. Box. 7, Nablus, Palestine

    Nawaf Al-Maharik

  3. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, P.O. Box. 7, Nablus, Palestine

    Mohammad Qadi & Ahmed Mousa

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  1. Nidal Jaradat
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  2. Nawaf Al-Maharik
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  4. Murad N. Abualhasan
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Contributions

NJ designed the study and wrote the manuscript. NJ, NAM, MH, MNA, MQ, OA, RAM, HK, TAH, MA, and AM performed the experiments. All authors analyzed the data, interpreted the data, drafted and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final draft.

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Correspondence to Nidal Jaradat.

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Jaradat, N., Al-Maharik, N., Hawash, M. et al. Essential Oil Composition, Antimicrobial, Cytotoxic, and Cyclooxygenase Inhibitory Areas of Activity of Pistacia lentiscus from Palestine. Arab J Sci Eng 47, 6869–6879 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-021-06555-x

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