Rhizome essential oil of Alpinia pinnanensis from Vietnam: Chemical composition and in vitro evaluation of antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities

Alpinia pinnanensis T.L.Wu & S.J.Chen, a species in the Zingiberaceae family, was identified and described from Phu Tho Province, Vietnam. In this study, the essential oil (EO) was extracted from A. pinnanensis rhizomes using hydrodistillation, and its phytochemical constituent was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The main ingredients identified were β -myrcene (18.72%), farnesol (12.17%), β -linalool (11.91%), and 1,8-cineole (8.82%). The EO exhibited weak antimicrobial activity against Bacillus cereus , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , and Candida albicans with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values ranging from 128 to 256 µg/mL, comparable to positive controls, streptomycin and cycloheximide. Additionally, the EO exhibited cytotoxic effects against HeLa (human cervical carcinoma) and HepG2 (human hepatocellular carcinoma) cell lines, with IC50 values of 8.50 ± 0.29 µg/mL and 7.84 ± 0.15 µg/mL, respectively. This is the first study to report on the phytochemical composition, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic effects of the EO from A. pinnanensis rhizomes.