Cytotoxicity, antimicrobial activity and composition of essential oil from Tanacetum balsamita L. subsp. balsamita.

The aerial parts of Tanacetum balsamita subsp. balsamita were collected at full flowering stage from Tabriz, Iran. The essential oil was isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed by combination of capillary GC and GC-MS. Twenty seven components were identified, representing 99.2% of the total oil. Carvone (51.0%), beta-thujone (20.8%), 1,8-cineole (4.4%) and alpha-thujone (3.2%) were the main components. The in vitro antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of T. balsamita subsp. balsamita was studied against eight Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (Bacillus subtilis, B. pumulis, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae) and three fungi (Candida albicans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus niger). The results of the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil according to the disc diffusion method and MIC values indicated that the oil exhibited moderate to high antimicrobial activity. The in vitro toxicological study based on the MTT cytotoxicity assay on human fetal skin fibroblast (HFSF) and Monkey kidney (Vero) cell lines showed IC50 values of 2500 and 1250 microg/mL, respectively.