Abstract

This study was designed to examine the in vitro antioxidant and cytotoxicity activities of Zingiber officinale Roscoe (ginger) rhizome essential oil. GC-MS analysis of the essential oil resulted in the identification of 7 compounds, representing 90.06% of the oil, the major constituents were described as α-zingiberene (52.35%), β-pinene (14.20%) and β-sesquiphellandrene (12.11%). The oil was subjected to screening for their possible antioxidant activity by means of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and β-carotene bleaching test. In the DPPH test system, the concentrations providing 50% inhibition (IC₅₀) values of free radical-scavenging activity of ginger essential oil was determined to be 0.0144% (v/v). In the β-carotene bleaching test system, we tested series concentration of samples to show the antioxidant activities of the oil, the IC₅₀ values of ginger essential oil was 0.55% (v/v). Ginger essential oil exhibited the strong cytotoxicity towards two human cancer cells at low concentration. Its IC₅₀ values on HO-8910 and Bel-7402 were 0.00643 and 0.00256% (v/v), respectively.

Key words: Zingiber officinale Roscoe, essential oil, GC-MS, antioxidant activity, cytotoxicity activity.