Abstract
BackgroundNatural antioxidant products are increasingly being used to treat various pathological liver conditions considering the role of oxidative stress in their pathogenesis. Rosemary essential oil has already being used as a preservative in food industry due to its antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, but it was shown to possess additional health benefits. The aim of our study was to evaluate the protective effect of rosemary essential oil on carbon tetrachloride - induced liver injury in rats and to explore whether its mechanism of action is associated with modulation of hepatic oxidative status.MethodsChemical composition of isolated rosemary essential oil was determined by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Antioxidant activity was determined in vitro using DPPH assay. Activities of enzyme markers of hepatocellular damage in serum and antioxidant enzymes in the liver homogenates were measured using the kinetic spectrophotometric methods.ResultsIn this research, we identified 29 chemical compounds of the studied rosemary essential oil, and the main constituents were 1,8-cineole (43.77%), camphor (12.53%), and α-pinene (11.51%). Investigated essential oil was found to exert hepatoprotective effects in the doses of 5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg by diminishing AST and ALT activities up to 2-fold in serum of rats with carbon tetrachloride - induced acute liver damage. Rosemary essential oil prevented carbon tetrachloride - induced increase of lipid peroxidation in liver homogenates. Furthermore, pre-treatment with studied essential oil during 7 days significantly reversed the activities of antioxidant enzymes catalase, peroxidase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase in liver homogenates, especially in the dose of 10 mg/kg.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate that rosemary essential oil, beside exhibiting free radical scavenging activity determined by DPPH assay, mediates its hepatoprotective effects also through activation of physiological defense mechanisms.
Highlights
Natural antioxidant products are increasingly being used to treat various pathological liver conditions considering the role of oxidative stress in their pathogenesis
Rosemary essential oil (REO) chemical composition The essential oil distilled from the rosemary had a pale yellow color and a strong odor, and the obtained yield of the essential oil was 1.03% (v/w in dry matter)
The essential oils from five plants that are widely used in a Mediterranean diet were tested for their antioxidant properties, using six in vitro methods, and the results showed that REO had the highest iron-chelating ability
Summary
Natural antioxidant products are increasingly being used to treat various pathological liver conditions considering the role of oxidative stress in their pathogenesis. The aim of our study was to evaluate the protective effect of rosemary essential oil on carbon tetrachloride - induced liver injury in rats and to explore whether its mechanism of action is associated with modulation of hepatic oxidative status. Especially phytochemicals, have gained popularity worldwide due to their efficacy and safety. They are increasingly being used to treat various pathological liver conditions and nearly half of the agents used in liver therapy today are either natural products or their derivatives [5]
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