Abstract
Seasonal environmental conditions can modulate the chemical composition and biological activity of essential oils from medicinal plants. This study investigated the phytochemical profile, antioxidant potential, cytotoxic activity, and cytoprotective effects of Lippia alba essential oils collected during dry and rainy seasons. Gas chromatography analysis revealed that all samples preserved a citral chemotype. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) confirmed citral as the primary discriminant metabolite, while quantitative seasonal variations were mainly associated with minor oxygenated monoterpenes, particularly geraniol, carvone, and nerolidol. The essential oil obtained during the rainy season (A5T–RS) exhibited significantly higher antioxidant activity, as determined by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), reducing power, total antioxidant capacity, and hydrogen peroxide scavenging assays. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) evaluation using the 2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) method demonstrated that both oils reduced oxidative stress in murine fibroblasts—L929, with enhanced cytoprotective effects observed for A5T–RS. Cytotoxicity assays against non-tumor (murine fibroblast-NIH/3T3, L929, Chinese hamster ovary—CHO-K1) and tumor (human cervical carcinoma—HeLa, and human hepatocellular carcinoma—HepG2) cell lines revealed selective antiproliferative activity, with tumor cells displaying greater sensitivity, particularly to the rainy-season oil. These results demonstrate that seasonal metabolomic modulation enhances the biological performance of L. alba essential oil without altering its chemotypic identity, highlighting the importance of environmental factors in the development of bioactive plant-derived products.
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Claims 7
Claim · model-written summary
All seasonal samples retained a citral chemotype.
- Taxon
- Lippia alba
Lippia albat0 - Outcome
- citral chemotypee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“all samples preserved a citral chemotype”
t0“Lippia alba”
Claim · model-written summary
Citral was the primary discriminant metabolite in PCA.
- Taxon
- Lippia albaLippia albat0
- Compound
- citrale0
- Outcome
- citral as the primary discriminant metabolitee0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Principal Component Analysis (PCA) confirmed citral as the primary discriminant metabolite”
t0“Lippia alba”
Claim · model-written summary
Seasonal quantitative variation was mainly associated with minor oxygenated monoterpenes.
- Taxon
- Lippia albaLippia albat0
- Compound
- minor oxygenated monoterpenese0
- Outcome
- quantitative seasonal variationse0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“quantitative seasonal variations were mainly associated with minor oxygenated monoterpenes, particularly geraniol, carvone, and nerolidol”
t0“Lippia alba”
Claim · model-written summary
Rainy-season oil had higher antioxidant activity across four assays.
- Taxon
- Lippia albaLippia albat0
- Material
- A5T–RSe0
- Outcome
- antioxidant activitye0
- Direction
- highere0
- Setting
- rainy seasone0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The essential oil obtained during the rainy season (A5T–RS) exhibited significantly higher antioxidant activity, as determined by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), reducing power, total antioxidant capacity, and hydrogen peroxide scavenging assays”
t0“Lippia alba”
Claim · model-written summary
Both oils reduced oxidative stress in L929 murine fibroblasts.
- Taxon
- Lippia albaLippia albat0
- Outcome
- oxidative stresse0
- Direction
- reducede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“both oils reduced oxidative stress in murine fibroblasts—L929”
t0“Lippia alba”
Claim · model-written summary
Rainy-season oil had enhanced cytoprotective effects.
- Taxon
- Lippia albaLippia albat0
- Material
- A5T–RSe0
- Outcome
- cytoprotective effectse0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“enhanced cytoprotective effects observed for A5T–RS”
t0“Lippia alba”
Claim · model-written summary
Tumor cells were more sensitive to oil than non-tumor cells, particularly rainy-season oil.
- Taxon
- Lippia albaLippia albat0
- Outcome
- sensitivitye0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Setting
- rainy-seasone0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“tumor cells displaying greater sensitivity, particularly to the rainy-season oil”
t0“Lippia alba”