Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis and antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-cancer activities of essential oils and extracts of Stachys schtschegleevii plant as biological macromolecules.

This work reports the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil as well as antioxidant and anti-cancer activities of ethyl acetate and aqueous extracts from leaf and stem of Stachys schtschegleevii. The structure of volatile parts and effective phenolic compounds as biological macromolecules as well as biological activity of the Stachys schtschegleevii plant were studied using various methods. Essential oils of stem and leaf were identified by steam distillation method and characterization was performed using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Anti-microbial activity of extracted macromolecules from essential oils of two ethyl acetate and aqueous parts of stem and leaf were analyzed by minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) method. The crude extracts exhibited no appreciable antioxidant activities, in 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) test by IC₅₀ 317.98 and 328.09 μg/mL for aqueous and ethyl acetate fractions, respectively. But, antioxidant activities for butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) as a standard antioxidant showed significant results (18.16 μg/mL). Also, it was confirmed that antioxidant activities with the phenolic and flavonoid content of the plant for the aqueous and ethyl acetate elements were obtained 57.73, 59.81 and 21.95, 26.124 μg/mg, respectively. Furthermore, in β-carotene/linoleic acid assay, inhibition percentages were recorded 71.17 and 96.24 for the aqueous and ethyl acetate elements, respectively. Therefore, ethyl acetate section of the plant showed antioxidant activity more than aqueous part. Hydrogen peroxide scavenging assay evaluated antioxidant activity for aqueous and the ethyl acetate extracts sections as 565 and 560 μg/mL, respectively. Also, power determinations of iron (III) oxide antioxidants from aqueous and ethyl acetate fractions were 6113 and 2.69, respectively. Furthermore, Anti-cancer activity of aqueous and ethyl acetate components evaluated in brine shrimp lethality test with LC₅₀ about 100 and 700 μg/mL for aqueous and ethyl acetate fractions, respectively. The results showed that aqueous section species has a much lower effect than the calculated standard, but ethyl acetate section of the plant sample shows a more favorable effect than the standard. Therefore, the plant screened good antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-cancer activities for its essential oil and ethyl acetate extract.