10.6084/m9.figshare.1484674.v1 Mariangela Marrelli Mariangela Marrelli Filomena Conforti Filomena Conforti Francesco Menichini Francesco Menichini Carmen Formisano Carmen Formisano Daniela Rigano Daniela Rigano Nelly Apostolides Arnold Nelly Apostolides Arnold Felice Senatore Felice Senatore Composition, antibacterial, antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of essential oils from three <i>Origanum</i> species growing wild in Lebanon and Greece Taylor & Francis Group 2015 cancer cell lines Origanum antioxidant activity mic dpph frap dictamnu 2015-07-14 00:00:00 Journal contribution https://tandf.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Composition_antibacterial_antioxidant_and_antiproliferative_activities_of_essential_oils_from_three_i_Origanum_i_species_growing_wild_in_Lebanon_and_Greece/1484674 <div><p>The essential oils from <i>Origanum dictamnus</i>, <i>Origanum libanoticum</i> and <i>Origanum microphyllum</i> were analysed by GC-MS, finding carvacrol, p-cymene, linalool, γ-terpinene and terpinen-4-ol as major components. The antioxidant activity by the DPPH and FRAP tests and the antiproliferative activity against two human cancer cell lines, LoVo and HepG2, were investigated, showing that the essential oil of <i>O. dictamnus</i> was statistically the most inhibitory on both the cell lines, while all the oils exerted a weak antioxidant activity. Furthermore, the samples were tested against 10 Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria; all the oils were active on Gram-positive bacteria but <i>O. dictamnus</i> essential oil was the most effective (MIC = 25–50 μg/mL), showing also a good activity against the Gram-negative <i>Escherichia coli</i> (MIC = 50 μg/mL). Data suggest that these essential oils and particularly <i>O. dictamnus</i> oil could be used as valuable new flavours with functional properties for food or nutraceutical products.</p></div>