Isodon coetsa: Genotoxic consequences & essential oil profile

Isodon (Schrad. ex Benth.) Spach is a cosmopolitan and important genus of Lamiaceae family and many of its species are used in folk medicine. About 150 species of undershrubs, subundershrubs or perennial herbs are found throughout the world mainly in tropical and subtropical Asia. Many plants of this genus are used in the treatment of respiratory and gastrointestinal bacterial infections, enteritis, jaundice and pneumonia. It is also hepatoprotective in activity. Isodon diterpenoids have attracted considerable attention as antibacterial, antitumor, anti inflammatory, antimalarial and antifeeding agents. A number of isolated diterpenoids have been found to have potent antitumor activities with low toxicity. The study deals with the cytotoxic activities of aqueous leaf extracts of Isodon coetsa. The activity was analysed for both polar & nonpolar components & polar components alone. Highest activity was reported for extracts with both polar & nonpolar components. Essential oil analysis was thus conducted using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. This resulted in construction of an essential oil profile along with genotoxic reports.