Chemical constituents, anticancer, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of essential oil from Anaphalis lacteal grown in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

The chemical constituent of the essential oil from Anaphalis lacteal was determined; 31 compounds, representing 93.91% of the total oil, were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. Three Gram-positive bacteria species, three Gram-negative bacteria species and four fungi were used to determine antimicrobial activity; the results revealed that the essential oil had a remarkable antimicrobial effect against bacteria and a susceptive effect against fungus. The oil also possessed more efficient free-radical scavenging activities than butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) with 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) value 31 μg/mL (40 μg/mL for BHT). MTT assay illustrated that the oil expressed certain effect in inhibiting the growth of HeLa and Hep-6 cancer cells.