Farmakološko delovanje ekstrakata odabranih aromatičnih/lekovitih biljaka / Pharmacological activity of extracts obtained from selected aromatic/medicinal plants

The main aim of this dissertation was recovery and chemical characterization of extracts and essential oils of winter savory (Satureja montana L.), basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) and coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), as well as their mixture, and determination biological activity of extracts in in vitro conditions by capacity towards neutralization of free radicals and antiproliferative activity. Plant materials (winter savory, basil and coriander) and their mixture (CBS) were characterized in terms of moisture content, mean particle size and essential oil content. In order to obtain essential oil and extracts from investigated plants, hydrodistillation (conventional procedure) and supercritical fluid extraction (novel technique) were applied. GC-MS analysis was used for determination of qualitative content and relative abundance of monoterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and other volatile compounds. Furthermore, GC-FID analysis was used for quantitative determination of content and yield of terpene compounds (α-pinene, β-pinene, d-limonene, γterpinene, eucalyptol, linalool, camphor, α-terpineol, geraniol, methyl-chavicol, carvacrol i eugenol) and samples obtained by traditional and novel techniques were compared. Biological potential of essential oil and lipophilic extracts was determined by antioxidant and antiproliferative activity. In vitro antioxidant activity of supercritical extracts and essential oils was determined by DPPH assay, while antiproliferative activity was determined in in vitro conditions on three cancer cell lines (HeLa, MDA-MB-453, K562) and on normal human fibroblasts (MRC-5). Chemometric techniques such as principal component analysis (PCA) i hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) were applied for better understanding of similarities between essential oils and lipid extracts.