Investigation of antioxidant and anticancer activities of essential oils of thymus kotschyanus var. glabrescens and mentha longifolia subsp. typhoides var. typhoides grown in Osmaniye

Nepetalactone (34.23), ascaridol (13.98), piperitone oxide (12.87), cyclohexanone (10.45), karyofilen (3.44) and piperitonone (5.16) in the essential oil of Mentha longifolia subsp. typhoides var. typhoides (ML) and thymol (37.40), carvacrol (19.40), p–cymene (12.18), cis–sabinene hydrate (4.80), γ–terpinene (4.49), borneol (2.44) and caryophyllene (2.43%) in the essential oil of the Thymus kotschyanus var. glabrescens (TK) were determined as major compounds (%). Total phenolic amounts of essential oils of ML and TK were 0.82 and 3.01 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g; IC50 values were calculated by DPPH and ABTS methods were 145.49–12.93 g/ml and 4.60–0.16 g/ml, and antioxidant activities determined by FRAP technique were 25.39 and 148.57 µmol trolox equivalent (TE)/g, respectively. As a result of the thermal analysis of the essential oils of ML and TK, it was determined that, the onset glass transition temperatures were –96.19oC and –94.67oC and their enthalpy values were calculated as 1.02 (for pick 1), 81.65 (for pick 2), and 63.01 kJ/kg (for only pick 2), respectively. Essential oils of TK and ML plants showed cytotoxic effects on A549 lung cancer cell line (IC50 values of 266.2 µg/ml; 198.7 µg/ml, respectively). It was found that both oils induced apoptosis in A549 cells, but the essential oil of ML plant has a better apoptotic effect than the essential oil of TK plant.