Medicinal potential of Morchella esculenta oil inhibits cancer cell proliferation, metabolite characterization through GCMS, GC×GC–TOF–MS and UHPLC–QTOF–MS

The current study investigated comprehensive phytochemical profile through high resolution techniques like GCMS, GC×GC-TOF-MS, UHPLC-QTOF-MS, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, antioxidant, and anticancer activities of Morchella esculenta oil using in vitro approaches. The results showed the identification of 19 (GCMS) 20 (UHPLC-QTOF-MS) and 68 (GC×GC-TOF-MS) phytochemical compounds belonging to diverse classes of compounds. Hexadecenoic acid, oleic acid, palmitic acid, linoleic acid, octanoic acid, C16 sphinganine, allopumiliotoxin267A, 3'-Hydroxy-T2 Toxin were the main compounds identified. The Morchella esculenta oil showed moderate phenolic content (13.26 ± 2.52 mg GAE/g dw), flavonoid content (11.35 ± 1.58 mg RE/g dw) and antioxidant activities (DPPH-IC50 = 118.46 µg/mL; ABTS-IC50 = 125 µg/mL; and FRAP-IC50 = 117.90 µg/mL). Using human cervix (HeLa), human colon (HCT-116) and human breast cancer (MCF-7) cell lines, essential oil of Morchella esculenta showed a dose/time-dependent antiproliferative and cytotoxicity activity with GI50 values of 27.61 µg/mL, 19.52 µg/mL, and 31.34 µg/mL respectively. The obtained results confirmed that Morchella esculenta oil is a rich source of bioactive molecules with strong antiproliferative and cytotoxicity potential towards cancer cell lines.