Chemical Characterization of the Essential Oil Compositions of Mentha spicata and M. longifolia ssp. cyprica from the Mediterranean Basin and Multivariate Statistical Analyses.

This present study aims to characterize the essential oil compositions of the aerial parts of M. spicata L. and endemic M. longifolia ssp. cyprica (Heinr. Braun) Harley by using GC-FID and GC/MS analyses simultaneously. In addition, it aims to perform multivariate statistical analysis by comparing with the existing literature, emphasizing the literature published within the last two decades, conducted on both species growing within the Mediterranean Basin. The major essential oil components of M. spicata were determined as carvone (67.8%) and limonene (10.6%), while the major compounds of M. longifolia ssp. cyprica essential oil were pulegone (64.8%) and 1,8-cineole (10.0%). As a result of statistical analysis, three clades were determined for M. spicata: a carvone-rich chemotype, a carvone/trans-carveol chemotype, and a pulegone/menthone chemotype, with the present study result belonging to the carvone-rich chemotype. Carvone was a primary determinant of chemotype, along with menthone, pulegone, and trans-carveol. In M. longifolia, the primary determinants of chemotype were identified as pulegone and menthone, with three chemotype clades being pulegone-rich, combined menthone/pulegone, and combined menthone/pulegone with caryophyllene enrichment. The primary determinants of chemotype were menthone, pulegone, and caryophyllene. The present study result belongs to pulegone-rich chemotype.

Fatty acid composition and anticancer activity in colon carcinoma cell lines of Prunus dulcis seed oil.

CONTEXT: Almond oil is used in traditional and complementary therapies for its numerous health benefits due to high unsaturated fatty acids content. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the composition and in vitro anticancer activity of almond oil from Northern Cyprus and compared with almond oil from Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Almond oil from Northern Cyprus was obtained by supercritical CO2 extraction and analyzed by GC-MS. Almond oil of Turkey was provided from Turkish pharmacies. Different concentrations of almond oils were incubated for 24 and 48 h with Colo-320 and Colo-741 cells. Cell growth and cytotoxicity were measured by MTT assays. Anticancer and antiprolifetarive activities of almond oils were investigated by immunocytochemistry using antibodies directed against to BMP-2, ß-catenin, Ki-67, LGR-5 and Jagged 1. RESULTS: Oleic acid (77.8%; 75.3%), linoleic acid (13.5%; 15.8%), palmitic acid (7.4%; 6.3%), were determined as the major compounds of almond oil from Northern Cyprus and Turkey, respectively. In the MTT assay, both almond oils were found to be active against Colo-320 and Colo-741 cells with 1:1 dilution for both 24 h and 48 h. As a result of immunohistochemical staining, while both almond oils exhibited significant antiproliferative and anticancer activity, these activities were more similar in Colo-320 cells which were treated with Northern Cyprus almond oil. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Almond oil from Northern Cyprus and Turkey may have anticancer and antiproliferative effects on colon cancer cells through molecular signalling pathways and, thus, they could be potential novel therapeutic agents.