Anti-inflammatory and Antioxidant Activities of Teucrium polium Leaf Extract and its Phenolic and Flavonoids Content

Abstract

Teucrium polium leaf is one of the folkloric medicinal plants used traditionally to treat many diseases in the Palestinian community. It has antibacterial antioxidant and anti-inflammatory consequences. Present study aims the evaluating the in vitro inhibitory effect of Teucrium polium leaf extracts on tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) using polymorphonuclear cells (PMNCs), in addition to determine its antioxidant and total phenolic and flavonoids contents. Polymorphonuclear cells were withdrawn from whole blood according to Histopaque (Ficol-1077) method. Blood cells were cultured in an enriched Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RBMI) medium. The levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) were determined after 24 h using LPS stimulation. Total phenolic contents, flavonoids contents and antioxidant activity were measured using spectrophotometric method. The TNF-α concentrations were compared using paired-samples t test. The leaf extracts of Teucrium polium revealed significant reduction in terms of TNF-α levels. The extract contained high phenolic and flavonoids contents and its antioxidant activities were remarkable. The reduced values in the TNF-α levels as affected by Teucrium polium leaf extracts indicate its effect in anti-inflammation. The plant is rich with polyphenolic compounds and flavonoids and has strong antioxidant activity. The observed anti-inflammatory effect of the extracts under study may be discussed as the influence of the significant presence of the phenolic compounds and flavonoids.