Anti-proliferative activity of in vitro Zingiberaceae essential oil against Human cervical cancer (HeLa) cell line

Abstract

In many developing countries cancer is one of the main reasons of worldwide death after cardiovascular diseases. India is one of the leading producers of aromatic essential oils in the world. The family Zingiberaceae is used as a spice ingredient from centuries and as traditional medicine in Asian regions. At present there are many medicinal plants belonging to this family which are used for its aromatic oils bearing numerous beneficial effects for health maintenance including anticancer activity. In the present study we have used four plant species like Curcuma longa, Curcuma aromatica, Kaempferia galanga and Hedychium coronarium which was assessed against Human cervical cancer (HeLa) cancer cell line by MTT assay. To validate the cytotoxicity activity, HeLa cell line was treated against different concentrations of rhizome essential oils ranging from 6.25-100 ul respectively. This study revealed that Hedychium coronarium essential oil was most significantly active in comparison to other oil samples tested against HeLa cell line. Hence the cytotoxic study of essential oils could be used by pharmaceuticals and other industry for therapeutics.