Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of the Essential Oil from Pulicaria undulata (L.) C. A. Mey. Growing Wild in Egypt

Pulicaria undulata is used a traditional herbal remedy in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. We used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for analysis of the essential oil of this plant growing wild in Egypt and 64 compounds were identified. The oil was rich in oxygenated monoterpenes (64.0%) and aromatic derivatives (18.8%). The major components were carvacrol (46.5%), xanthoxylin (18.1%) and carvotanacetone (8.7%). The oil of the Egyptian plant showed significant differences from the oil results reported on this species derived from different accessions. Antioxidant activity was performed by FRAP, DPPH and ABTS assays, and the oil demonstrated a powerful antioxidant properties. Furthermore, cytotoxic activity was assessed using MTT assay against three cell lines (A375, T98G, HCT116) and the oil showed moderate results with IC50 of 18.53, 40.64 and 22.23 μg/ml; respectively. Anti-acetylcholinesterase activity was examined using Ellman method and the oil showed noteworthy values (IC50= 139.2  2 μg/ml). In conclusion, the studied essential oil exhibited a peculiar fingerprint and promising biological activities which support medical and cosmeceutical application of this plant.