Comparison of Chemical Components, Anti‐Inflammatory Effect and Cytotoxicity to Cancer Cells of Essential Oils From Different Parts of Celosia argentea

ABSTRACT Celosia argentea , a therapeutic plant belonging to the Celosia genus, has been used in the treatment of various diseases. This study isolated essential oil (EO) from stems (CASO), leaves (CALO) and flowers (CAFO) which demonstrated that palmitic acid (16.93%), cis ‐phytol (14.97%), hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (13.71%) were the main components in CAFO, α ‐cadinene (44.42%), cis ‐phytol (20.73%), linalool (8.86%) in CALO and (3 Z )‐hexen‐1‐ol (41.90%), n ‐hexanol (38.52%), (2 E )‐hexenal (7.31%) in CASO. The main compounds in C. argentea EOs bound to inflammatory proteins, including inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase‐2, with scores ranging from −4.6 kcal/mol to −9.0 kcal/mol. Especially, α ‐cadinene exhibited the best binding affinity toward iNOS (−9.0 kcal/mol), while demonstrating a binding affinity for COX‐2 (−8.3 kcal/mol) comparable to that of the positive controls. In an in vitro assay, CASO and CALO effectively inhibited nitric oxide production, exhibiting 92.53% ± 2.34% and 92.44% ± 1.95% inhibition at 100 µg/mL and IC 50 values of 9.18 ± 0.65 µg/mL and 15.94 ± 1.18 µg/mL, respectively. Additionally, CASO and CALO exhibited cytotoxicity against cancer cells, with IC 50 values of 7.39 ± 0.29 to 32.53 ± 4.04 µg/mL. These findings provide preliminary evidence of the anti‐inflammatory and cytotoxic potential of C. argentea EOs and support the need for further investigation of its biological activities and underlying mechanisms.