Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Essential Oil and Methanol Extract of Teucrium scordium

In this study, the chemical composition of the essential oil of Teucrium scordium was studied using capillary GC and GC/MS instruments. In addition, the antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of the oil and methanol extract were evaluated by disc diffusion and MTT assays, respectively. Forty-three volatile components were identified from the oil of aerial parts, representing of 98.1% of total oil. The major constituents were trans-α-bergamotene (52.3%), (Z)-α-trans-bergamotol (18.1%), linalool (3.0%) and piperitenone oxide (2.9%). The best anti-bacterial activity was observed for the methanol extract against Staphylococcus epidermidis with ZI (19.0 ± 0.47) mm and also against Proteus mirabilis with MIC value of 1.25 μg/mL. Investigation of the samples on cell viability of HeLa cells showed good activity for the essential oil with an IC50 value of 5.2 μg/mL. Our results indicated that Teucrium scordium can be considered for further analyses as an effective and safe curing agent for cancer and pathogenic infection therapies.