The chemical composition of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from aerial parts of A. leucotrichus Cosson & Durieu (Apiaceae) grown in the south of Algeria (El-Oued) was determined by GC-MS analysis. The oil was found to be rich in perilladehyde 64.66% and D-Limonene 26.99%. The biological activity of A. leucotrichus Cosson & Durieu essential oil has been investigated. The in vitro antimicrobial activity of the essential oil sample was tested on eight strains, one yeast and one fungi. The test showed interesting antimicrobial properties, especially on Salmonella enterica and E. coli, the antioxidant capacity of the oil was measured using the cyclic voltammetry, and the AAT value of A. leucotrichus essential oil was evaluated 47.84 mg α-TE/L. In addition, the antitumor activity showed that the oil of A. leucotrichus was very significant against the HCT116 colon cancer cell line.

Cotula cinerea is a traditional Algerian medicinal plant that has many biological properties, such as analgesic, antiseptic and antibacterial activities. Essential oil of Cotula cinerea was subjected to chromatographical and spectroscopical studies to determine the chemical composition. The analysis highlighted that the oil contains trans thujone (51.86%), santalina triéne (10.6%), α-pinéne (2.02%), sabinene (6.17%), cineole <1.8> (5.34%), δ-terpinene (1.57%), camphor (2.63%), β-terpineol (1.39 %) and terpin-4-ol (1.73%) as the major constituents. The essential oil was tested for antibacterial activity. The oil exhibited substantial antibacterial activity against both the tested Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria. In search of better anticancer agent the essential oil of Cotula cinerea was also subjected for in-vitro cytotoxic activity on two cancerous human cell lines; colon (HCT116) and hepatic (HePG2) cancer cell lines. The results indicates that the essential oil of Cotula cinerea has a significant cytotoxic activity on the tested colon cancer cell lines with a 66.9% inhibition and a minimal inhibition (33.9%) on liver cancer cell line.