Chemical Constituents and Evaluation of Cytotoxic Activities of Curcuma zedoaria (Christm.) Roscoe Oils from Malaysia and Indonesia

AbstractThe essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation of the rhizomes of Curcuma zedoaria (Christm.) Roscoe collected from Malaysia and Indonesia were analyzed by capillary GC and GC-MS. Both the oils were principally sesquiterpenic in nature and were characterized by zerumbone (17.14% and 12.07%, respectively). Camphor (17.56% and 19.69%, respectively) was also abundant in both oils. The cytotoxic effects of both the oils on human breast (MCF-7 and MDA-MB 231), lung (A549 and SK-LU-1) and cervical (HeLa S3 and SiHa) cancer cell lines were examined using the MTT assay. The Malaysian C. zedoaria rhizome oil was found to be cytotoxic against the MCF-7, SK-LU-1, HeLa S3 and SiHa cell lines, with IC50 values being less than 10 μg/mL. Our findings support the use of the Malaysian C. zedoaria rhizome oil as a potential chemopreventive agent towards a wide spectrum of cancer in particular cervical cancer.