## 2 Results and Discussion
### Antiproliferative Activity of Hydrosol and Methanol Extract of P. ramossissima  
The antiproliferative effect of volatile compounds is described in a very limited number of scientific papers. The promising results of previous studies dealing with this activity of aromatic plants [30] and the fact that the antiproliferative activity of _P. ramossissima_ has not been previously investigated prompted us to examine the effect of hydrosol and methanol extract of this plant on cervical cancer cell line (HeLa), human colon cancer cell line (HCT116) and human osteosarcoma cell line (U2 OS). The results showed that the hydrosol had no effect on the survival of the tested cells, although myristicin has shown significant biological activity, including antiproliferative properties, in the past [14]. Considering that hydrosols are generally less concentrated, it is possible that the concentration  
Figure 4: The most abundant compounds in the headspace composition (HS) of fresh (Fr) and air-dried (Dr) plant material and hydrosol (HY) on (**a**) divinylbenzene/carboxylate/polydimethylsiloxane fibre (f1) and (**b**) polydimethylsiloxane/divinylbenzene fibre (f2). of bioactive compounds in the water extract is not sufficient to inhibit the growth of the tested cells. Treatment with serial dilutions of the methanol extract for 48 h moderately inhibited growth of all tested cancer cell lines with IC\({}_{50}\) values for HeLa 395.73 \(\mu\)g/mL, HCT116 462.054 \(\mu\)g/mL, and U2 OS 472.519 \(\mu\)g/mL (Figure 5). Chemical analysis of the methanol extract revealed several compounds, three flavonoid glycosides, one anthocyanin glycoside (peonidin-3-rutinoside or peonidin-3-rhamoside-5-glucoside), and the most abundant lipid compound, sphingolipid hexadecasphinganin (Table 3). Sphingolipids isolated from _Cissus incisa_ leaves showed excellent cytotoxic activity on six human cancer cells: PC3, HepG3B, HepG2, MCF7, A549, and HeLa [30]. Flavonoids are known to have anticancer activity in several ways: they interrupt the cell cycle, activate enzymes that scavenge reactive oxygen species, stimulate apoptosis and autophagy, and inhibit cancer cell proliferation [31]. The compound identified in the methanol extract of _P. ramossisima_, peonidin-3-rutinoside or peonidin-3-rhamoside-5-glucoside, was previously shown by [PERSON] et al. (2005) to be able to inhibit the growth of HS578T cancer cells and stimulating apoptosis. It also stopped the growth of [PERSON] lung carcinoma cells in vivo [32]. Considering only a part of the literature results dealing with the antiproliferative effect of Apiaceae and other aromatic plant species, it is noted that methanol and other solvents have been used to extract various bioactive compounds from the plants. [PERSON] et al. [20] studied the cytotoxic effects of methanol extract of seven Apiaceae species on HepG2, hepatocellular carcinoma cells, and a healthy cell line, S17. Among plants tested, only _C. macospermum_ showed higher toxicity to HepG2 cells than to healthy S17 cells. [PERSON] et al. [31] demonstrated that etheric extracts from the fruits of _Laseriptium krapffii_ [PERSON] showed moderate cytotoxic activity against human acute promyelocytic leukemia cell lines (HL-60) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines (CEM/C1 and CCRF/CEM) in contrast to methanol extracts. The antiproliferative activity of hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol extracts of _Seseli petraeum_ M. [PERSON] was tested on A549 human lung cancer cells. Although all prepared extracts showed significant antiproliferative activity, the hexane extract had the greatest ability to inhibit the growth of treated cells. The authors indicated that the mechanism of action of the extract was the induction of cell cycle arrest in the