Anti Cancer, Cytotoxic Activity, Mutagenic and Anti-mutagenic Activities of Artemisia aucheri Essential Oil

The essential oil of Artemisia aucheri Boiss. collected from Khorassan, north east of Iran, was investigated for anti-cancer, cytotoxic, mutagenic and anti-mutagenic activities. Cytotoxicity was measured using a modified MTT assay on normal human lymphocytes and tumor HeLa cells. The IC50 shows that cytotoxicity of the oil in the human tumor cell line than that observed in normal human lymphocytes. The mutagenic and anti-mutagenic activities of the essential oil of A. aucheri was evaluated using the Salmonella typhimurium tester strains TA98 and TA100, together with nitrofluorene for TA98 and sodium azide for TA100 without (-S9) metabolic activation, and 2-aminoantracene for TA98 and TA100 with metabolic (+S9) activation. A. aucheri showed good anti-mutagenic effect against S. typhimurium tester strains TA98 and TA100.