Antioxidant and antiangiogenic activities of the essential oils of Myristica fragrans and Morinda citrifolia.

OBJECTIVE: Toinvestigate the anti-angiogenic activity and antioxidant properties of Myristica fragrans (M. fragrans) (nutmeg) and Morinda citrifolia (M. citrifolia)(mengkudu) oils. METHODS: The nutmeg and megkudu essential oils were obtained by steam distillation. The antioxidant activities of both essential oils were determined by beta-carotene/linoleic acid bleaching assay and reducing power while the anti-angiogenic activity was investigated using rat aortic ring assay using various concentrations. RESULTS: The results showed that nutmeg oil has higher antioxidant activity than mengkudu oil. The nutmeg oil effectively inhibited the oxidation of linoleic acid with (88.68±0.1)% while the inhibition percentage of oxidation of linoleic acid of the mengkudu oil is (69.44±0.4)%. The nutmeg oil and mengkudu oil showed reducing power with an EC(50) value of 181.4 µg/mL and 3 043.0 µg/mL, respectively. The antiangiogenic activity of nutmeg oil showed significant antiangiogenic activity with IC(50) of 77.64 µg/mL comparing to mengkudu oil which exhibits IC(50) of 109.30 µg/mL. CONCLUSIONS: Bioactive compound(s) will be isolated from the nutmeg essential oil to be developed as antiangiogenic drugs.

Chemical composition, antioxidant and cytotoxicity activities of the essential oils of Myristica fragrans and Morinda citrifolia.

BACKGROUND: In this study the chemical composition, antioxidant activities and cytotoxic effect of the essential oils of Myristica fragrans (nutmeg) and Morinda citrifolia (mengkudu) were determined. RESULTS: Thirty-eight compounds in nutmeg oil and six compounds in mengkudu oil were identified by gas chromatography­mass spectrometry. The free radical scavenging activity of nutmeg oil was superior of that mengkudu oil. The MTT assay of nutmeg oil on human colorectal carcinoma (HCT-116) and human breast carcinoma (MCF-7) cell lines showed IC50 values of 78.61 and 66.45 µg mL⁻¹, respectively. The mengkudu oil exhibited IC50 values of 91.46 and 78.15 µg mL⁻¹ for HCT-116 and MCF-7, respectively. CONCLUSION: The results showed that nutmeg oil can be developed as potent anti-cancer and antioxidant drugs.