Chemical Composition and Cytotoxic Activity of Chenopodium ambrosioides L. Essential Oil from Togo

The leaf essential oil of Chromolaena odorata L. (Chenopodiaceae) from Togo were steam-distilled, analyzed by GC and GC-MS for chem- ical composition and investigated in vitro for its potential cytotoxic activity on human epidermic cell line HaCat. The chemical composition showed that the main constituents of essential oil sample were respectively ascaridole (51.12 %), p-cymene (19.88 %), neral (8.70%) and geraniol (7.55%). The in vitro cytotoxicity bioassays on human cell line HaCaT revealed moderate toxicity level of C. ambrosioides essen- tial oil IC50with 700 µL.mL -1 . Pure commercial neral standard showed high toxicity with IC50 value of 100 µL.mL -1 ). Conversely, pure ascaridole p-cymene and geraniol standards appeared almost non-toxic (IC50 >1000 µL.mL -1 ), proving the major role played by neral in the overall toxicity showed by the C. ambrosiodes oil sample tested in this work.