In Vitro and In Silico Pharmacological and Cosmeceutical Potential of Ten Essential Oils from Aromatic Medicinal Plants from the Mascarene Islands.

In this study, 10 essential oils (EOs), from nine plants ( Cinnamomum camphora , Curcuma longa , Citrus aurantium , Morinda citrifolia , Petroselinum crispum , Plectranthus amboinicus , Pittosporum senacia , Syzygium coriaceum , and Syzygium samarangense ) were assessed for their antimicrobial, antiaging and antiproliferative properties. While only S. coriaceum , P. amboinicus (MIC: 0.50 mg/mL) and M. citrifolia (MIC: 2 mg/mL) EOs showed activity against Cutibacterium acnes , all EOs except S. samarangense EO demonstrated activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis (MIC: 0.125-0.50 mg/mL). The EOs were either fungistatic or fungicidal against one or both tested Candida species with minimum inhibitory/fungicidal concentrations of 0.016-32 mg/mL. The EOs also inhibited one or both key enzymes involved in skin aging, elastase and collagenase (IC 50 : 89.22-459.2 µg/mL; 0.17-0.18 mg/mL, respectively). Turmerone, previously identified in the C. longa EO, showed the highest binding affinity with the enzymes (binding energy: -5.11 and -6.64 kcal/mol). Only C. aurantium leaf, C. longa , P. amboinicus , P. senacia , S. coriaceum , and S. samarangense EOs were cytotoxic to the human malignant melanoma cells, UCT-MEL1 (IC 50 : 88.91-277.25 µg/mL). All the EOs, except M. citrifolia EO, were also cytotoxic to the human keratinocytes non-tumorigenic cells, HaCat (IC 50 : 33.73-250.90 µg/mL). Altogether, some interesting therapeutic properties of the EOs of pharmacological/cosmeceutical interests were observed, which warrants further investigations.