Essential oil composition and pharmacological activities of Micromeria biflora (Buch.- Ham. Ex D. Don) Benth. collected from Uttarakhand region of India

Abstract

By a combination of gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mas spectrometry (GC/MS) sixteen compounds contributing to 91.9% of the total essential oil of Micromeriabiflora (Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don) Benth. (Lamiaceae) were identified. The oil was dominated by oxygenated sesquiterpenoids; caryophyllene oxide (42.5%), epi-α-cadinol (5.7%), β-eudesmol (9.3%), oplapanone (4.5%) and guaial (4.6%). α-Terpeneol (1.1%) was the only identified oxygenated monoterpene. The major mono and sequiterpene hydrocarbons identified in the essential oil were þ-cymene (4.7%), γ-cadinene (2.6%), δ-cadinene (3.4%), and α-cadinene (2.8%) besides other minor constituents. Both the oil and the extract were also tested for anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antipyretic activity on Swiss albino mice which exhibited good to moderate pharmacological activity in a dose dependent manner in comparison with the standard drug, namely; ibuprofen, paracetamol and indomethacin. Key words: Lamiaceae, Micromeria biflora, caryophyllene oxide, essential oil, phenolic assay antioxidant, analgesic and antipyretic activities, anti-inflammatory.