Chemical composition of essential oils of Piper jacquemontianum and Piper variabile from Guatemala and bioactivity of the dichloromethane and methanol extracts

The essential oils from two native species from Guatemala were studied for their chemical composition and the dichloromethane and methanol extracts for their biological activity. A GC-MS analysis of the essential oil from Piper jacquemontianum Kunth, Piperaceae, showed 34 constituents, consisting mainly of linalool (69.4%), while Piper variabile C. DC. essential oil had 36 constituents, camphor (28.4%), camphene (16.6%) and limonene (13.9%) being the major components. Dichloromethane extracts of both species were cytotoxic against MCF-7, H-460 and SF-268 cell lines (<7 mu g/mL). Dichloromethane extract of P. jacquemontianum was slightly active against bacteria (0.5 mg/mL), was active against promastigotes of Leishmania (20.4-61.0 mu g/mL), and epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi (51.9 mu g/mL). The methanol extract of P. variabile showed antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum F32 (4.5 mu g/mL), and the dichloromethane extract against Leishmania (55.8-76.3 mu g/mL) and T. cruzi (45.8 mu g/mL). None of the extracts from the two species was active against Aedes aegypti larvae and Artemia salina nauplii.