Cytotoxic Effects of the Essential Oil from Achillea wilhelmsii C. Koch

The cytotoxicity activity of the essential oils from the leaves of Achillea wilhelmsii C. Koch were studied on six tumor cell lines and a normal cell line with Lactate dehydrogenases (LDH) and trypan blue methods. The composition of the essential oil was also analyzed by Gas Chromatography–Mass spectrophotometery (GC-MS). The LDH test showed that the oil had marked cytotoxicity activity against all cancer cell lines. K562 (Human chronic myelogenous leukemia) and PC3 (Human prostate adenocarcinoma), were the most sensitive to the essential oil with IC50 value (the concentration of the essential oil causing 50% inhibition) of 12.62±1.3μg/ml and 15.88±2.4μg/ml, respectively. The least cytotoxic activity was exhibited on HUVEC (Human umbilical vein endothelial cell) and Hela (Human cervix carcinoma) cell lines with IC50 values of 19.85±3.2 and 46.34±2.7, respectively. Trypan blue assay approved these results. In conclusion, cytotoxic activities of the oil may be described by the presence of monoterpene derivatives. the results of this study suggest that the essential oil of A. wilhelmsii has a potential source for cancer therapy. As a significant result, HUVEC (as normal cells) exhibited the least sensitivity to cytotoxic effects of the oil, confirming its high selectivity and specialty against cancer cell lines.