Exploring the Essential Oil of Illicium verum from Palestine: An Investigation into Composition, Antimicrobial Properties, and Anticancer Potential

One of the most important sources of pharmaceuticals is medicinal plants. The evergreen star anise, Illicium verum, is an important herb that grows throughout the southwestern region of Asia. I. verum oil has long been used to treat otalgia and rheumatism, as an antimicrobial for coughs, toothaches, and sinusitis, and as a preservative for food. I. verum EO is also used to cure diarrhea, flatulence, and spasms. The objectives of the current study are to determine the chemical constituents of I. verum essential oil (EO) and to evaluate its antibacterial and anticancer effects in vitro. The EO was extracted using a hydrodistillation process combined with a cleavenger device. GC-MS analyses of EO revealed the presence of 31 phytochemical compounds in I. verum EO, of which E-Anethole 88.38% was the major component, followed by Shisofuran 2.88% and Limonene 2.01%. The remaining minor ingredients represent around 7.7%. Antimicrobial activity against a series of microbial strains was determined using the microdilution technique. The findings revealed that I. verum EO inhibited the growth of all bacteria tested to varied degrees. The I. verum EO had the highest antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 6.25 mg/ml. Moreover, the I. verum EO had MIC of 100 mg/ml against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli. Furthermore, the MIC against Proteus vulgaris was 50 mg/ml. The anti-cancer effects of EO were examined using the CellTilter 96®Aqueous One Solution Cell Proliferation (MTS) Assay and measuring the inhibition index on LX-2, 3T3, Hela, and MCF-7 cells. The cytotoxicity results showed the best IC50 was obtained against LX-2 cells (57.265 ± 2.51 µg/ml), followed by HeLa cells (90.499 ±1.87 µg/ml), 3T3 cells (118.819 ± 3.014 µg/ml), and MCF-7 cells in that order. The findings of this study suggest that I. verum EO is a rich source of pharmacologically active ingredients that can be confirmed and examined therapeutically for their therapeutic potential and the development and design of new natural medicinal formulations.