First Report on Comparative Essential Oil Profile of Stem and Leaves of Blepharispermum hirtum Oliver and Their Antidiabetic and Anticancer Effects

The current research was designed to explore the Blepharispermum hirtum Oliver (Asteraceae) stem and leaves essential oil (EO) composition extracted through hydro-distillation using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis for the first time. The EOs of the stem and leaves of B. hirtum were comparatively studied for the in vitro antidiabetic and anticancer potential using in vitro α-glucosidase and an MTT inhibition assay, respectively. In both of the tested samples, the same number of fifty-eight compounds were identified and contributed 93.88% and 89.07% of the total oil composition in the EOs of the stem and leaves of B. hirtum correspondingly. However, camphene was observed as a major compound (23.63%) in the stem EO, followed by β-selinene (5.33%) and β-elemene (4.66%) and laevo-β-pinene (4.38%). While in the EO of the leaves, the dominant compound was found to be 24-norursa-3,12-diene (9.08%), followed by β-eudesmol (7.81%), β-selinene (7.26%), thunbergol (5.84%), and caryophyllene oxide (5.62%). Significant antidiabetic potential was observed with an IC(50) of 2.10 ± 0.57 µg/mL by the stem compared to the EO of the leaves of B. hirtum, having an IC(50) of 4.30 ± 1.56 µg/mL when equated with acarbose (IC(50) = 377.71 ± 1.34 µg/mL). Furthermore, the EOs offered considerable cytotoxic capabilities for MDA-MB-231. However, the EO of the leaves presented an IC(50) = 88.4 ± 0.5 μg/mL compared to the EO of the stem of B. hirtum against the triple-negative breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell lines with an IC(50) = 123.6 ± 0.8 μg/mL. However, the EOs were also treated with the human breast epithelial (MCF-10A) cell line, and from the results, it has been concluded that these oils did not produce much harm to the normal cell lines. Hence, the present research proved that the EOs of B. hirtum might be used to cure diabetes mellitus and human breast cancer. Moreover, further studies are considered to be necessary to isolate the responsible bioactive constituents to devise drugs for the observed activities.