The aim of this research was to evaluate the essential oil of Cymbopogon
schoenanthus (L.) Spreng. (C. schoenanthus) from Burkina Faso in terms of
cytotoxic activity against LNCaP cells, derived from prostate cancer, and HeLa
cells, derived from cervical cancer. Antioxidant activities were evaluated in
vitro. Essential oil (EO) was extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by
GC/FID and GC/MS. Thirty-seven compounds were identified, the major compounds
being piperitone (49.9%), δ-2-carene (24.02%), elemol (5.79%) and limonene
(4.31%). EO exhibited a poor antioxidant activity, as shown by the inhibition of
DPPH radicals (IC50 = 1730 ± 80 µg/mL) and ABTS+. (IC50 = 2890 ± 26.9 µg/mL).
Conversely, EO decreased the proliferation of LNCaP and HeLa cells with
respective IC50 values of 135.53 ± 5.27 µg/mL and 146.17 ± 11 µg/mL. EO also
prevented LNCaP cell migration and led to the arrest of their cell cycle in the
G2/M phase. Altogether, this work points out for the first time that EO of C.
schoenanthus from Burkina Faso could be an effective natural anticancer agent.

Cymbopogon schoenanthus; antimigratory; antioxidant; cancer; cell cycle; cytotoxic; essential oil.