The essential oils from Thanh Son exhibited potent cytotoxic activity against Hela and Hep3B cell lines with the IC50 values ranging from ± to ± µg/ml. The results indicated that the essential oils of C. citratus from Thanh Son, Phu Tho could be considered as a promising candidate for the natural sources of anticancer agents. | Journal of Biotechnology 14(4): 683-687, 2016 CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND CYTOTOXIC ACTIVITY OF THE ESSENTIAL OILS OF CYMBOPOGON CITRATUS L. GROWN IN PHU THO PROVINCE Hoang Thi Kim Van1, Nguyen Minh Quy1, Do Thi Vinh Ha1, Nguyen Thanh Hai1, Hoang Thi Ly1, Nguyen Thi Hien1, Duong Thu Trang2, Nguyen Hai Dang2, * , Nguyen Tien Dat3 1 Viet Tri University of Industry, Phu Tho Advanced Center for Bio-organic Chemistry, Institute of Marine Biochemistry, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology 3 Institute of Marine Biochemistry, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology 2 * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nguyenhd@ Received: Accepted: SUMMARY Culms and leaves of Cymbopogon citratus L. were collected from two regions of Phu Tho province (Thanh Son and Phu Ninh) and used as materials for essential oil extraction. Oils obtained were steamdistilled, analyzed for chemical composition and evaluated for cytotoxic activity against three different cancer cell lines. The GC/MS analysis showed that citral is the major content of the steam-distilled essential oils which was found in the range of . Camphene was found only in culm oils of both regions but it was not detected in the leaf oils. Interestingly, the isomer forms of ocimene present at higher content in the culm oils than in the leaf oils whereas myrcene content in the leaf oils is higher than that in the culm oils. In a cytotoxicity test, four essential oils of culms and leaves of C. citratus from Thanh Son and Phu Ninh showed potent activity against A549 (human lung carcinoma) cell line with the IC50 values ranging from ± to ± µg/ml. The essential oils (culms and leaves) from Phu Ninh exhibited moderate effects on the Hela (human cervical adenocarcinoma) cells with the IC50 values of ± and 42± µg/ml, respectively. However, they were inactive against the human hepatocellular carcinoma Hep3B cell line. The essential oils from Thanh
