Cytotoxic activity and GC-MS analysis of the constituents of essential oil of Nepeta govaniana (Wall.ex Benth) from Jammu and Kashmir, India

The chemical composition of the essential oil of Nepeta govaniana was determined by GC-FID with relative abundance and relative retention indices (RRI). The GC-FID analysis led to identification of ten compounds accounting for 86.02% of total oil composition. The dominant compounds present were 1, 2, 3, 6-tetramethylbicyclo [2, 2, 2] octa-2, 5-diene (32.35%) followed by geijerene (20.65%) and pregeijerene (6.18%). The oil was screened for cytotoxic activity against a panel of five cancer cell lines viz lung (A-549), breast (MCF-7), pancreas (MiaPaCa-2) and Colon (HCT-116 and Colo-205) using sulforhodamine B assay (SRB). The Nepeta govaniana essential oil exhibited a concentration-dependent as well as cell line-dependent growth inhibition of cancer cells and was found to be most active against the lung (A-549; IC50 of 19.1 ± 0.9 µg/ml) followed by colon (colo-205; IC50 of 21.3±1.1 µg/ml) cancer cell lines.