Composition and potential anticancer activities of essential oils obtained from myrrh and frankincense

  • Authors:
    • Yingli Chen
    • Chunlan Zhou
    • Zhendan Ge
    • Yufa Liu
    • Yuming Liu
    • Weiyi Feng
    • Sen Li
    • Guoyou Chen
    • Taiming Wei
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: August 8, 2013     https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2013.1520
  • Pages: 1140-1146
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Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the composition and potential anticancer activities of essential oils obtained from two species, myrrh and frankincense, by hydrodistillation. Using gas chromatography‑mass spectrometry (GC‑MS), 76 and 99 components were identified in the myrrh and frankincense essential oils, respectively, with the most abundant components, 2‑Cyclohexen‑1‑one, 4‑ethynyl‑4‑hydroxy‑3,5,5‑trimethyl‑ and n‑Octylacetate, accounting for 12.01 and 34.66%, respectively. The effects of the two essential oils, independently and as a mixture, on five tumor cell lines, MCF‑7, HS‑1, HepG2, HeLa and A549, were investigated using the MTT assay. The results indicated that the MCF‑7 and HS‑1 cell lines showed increased sensitivity to the myrrh and frankincense essential oils compared with the remaining cell lines. In addition, the anticancer effects of myrrh were markedly increased compared with those of frankincense, however, no significant synergistic effects were identified. The flow cytometry results indicated that apoptosis may be a major contributor to the biological efficacy of MCF‑7 cells.
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October 2013
Volume 6 Issue 4

Print ISSN: 1792-1074
Online ISSN:1792-1082

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Spandidos Publications style
Chen Y, Zhou C, Ge Z, Liu Y, Liu Y, Feng W, Li S, Chen G and Wei T: Composition and potential anticancer activities of essential oils obtained from myrrh and frankincense. Oncol Lett 6: 1140-1146, 2013.
APA
Chen, Y., Zhou, C., Ge, Z., Liu, Y., Liu, Y., Feng, W. ... Wei, T. (2013). Composition and potential anticancer activities of essential oils obtained from myrrh and frankincense. Oncology Letters, 6, 1140-1146. https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2013.1520
MLA
Chen, Y., Zhou, C., Ge, Z., Liu, Y., Liu, Y., Feng, W., Li, S., Chen, G., Wei, T."Composition and potential anticancer activities of essential oils obtained from myrrh and frankincense". Oncology Letters 6.4 (2013): 1140-1146.
Chicago
Chen, Y., Zhou, C., Ge, Z., Liu, Y., Liu, Y., Feng, W., Li, S., Chen, G., Wei, T."Composition and potential anticancer activities of essential oils obtained from myrrh and frankincense". Oncology Letters 6, no. 4 (2013): 1140-1146. https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2013.1520