| Ferulago angulate (Apiaceae), an important medicinal plant of Iran, has been considered to have different therapeutical effects and are widely used in the perfume and pharmacological industries. Considering capability of F. angulate essential oils, the present study was conducted to optimized microwave-assisted hydrodistillation (MAHD) method for F. angulate fruit in order to improve the yield and biological activities of essential oils. Optimization of the yield was done through central composite design (CCD) of the response surface methodology (RSM) using three variable factors (extraction time, irradiation power and plant/liquid ration). Based on the RSM results, the maximum essential oil yield was obtained with the microwave power of 800 W and plant/liquid ration of 0.05 (g/mL) at 60 min. The results revealed that MAHD of F. angulate produced the highest essential oil yield (5.20 %) as compared to essential oil prepared with HD (2.65 %). The essential oils extracted by MAHD and HD were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC–MS) and indicated the main constituents of them were limonene, a-pinene, ß-Phellandrene, a–Phellandrene, and terpinolene. The antioxidant study revealed that MAHD essential oil had higher antioxidant activity than the HD oil (up to 2 fold). Also, the cytotoxic study indicated that MAHD essential oil had more potential than HD oil and the essential oil obtained by MAHD demonstrated potent anticancer activities against MCF-7. This paper revealed that MAHD could be an effective method for extraction of essential oil in F. angulate in terms of shortening extraction time, reduction of energy consumption and increasing biological activities compared to the HD method. |