Abstract
The chemical composition, antioxidant, cytotoxic and antiviral activities of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation from the aerial parts of Teucrium pseudochamaepitys (Lamiaceae) collected from Zaghouan province of Tunisia are reported. The essential oil was analyzed by gas chromatography equipped with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Thirty-one compounds were identified representing 88.6% of the total essential oil. Hexadecanoic acid was found to be the most abundant component (26.1%) followed by caryophyllene oxide (6.3%), myristicin (4.9%) and α-cubebene (3.9%). The antioxidant capacity of the oil was measured on the basis of the scavenging activity to the stable 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). The IC50 value of the oil was evaluated as 0.77 mg·mL−1. In addition, the essential oil was found to possess moderate cytotoxic effects on the HEp-2 cell line (50% cytotoxic concentration (CC50) = 653.6 µg·mL−1). The potential antiviral effect was tested against Coxsackievirus B (CV-B), a significant human and mouse pathogen that causes pediatric central nervous system disease, commonly with acute syndromes. The reduction of viral infectivity by the essential oil was measured using a cytopathic (CPE) reduction assay.
Highlights
Since prehistoric times, medicinal plants have been used as herbal formulations in crude forms, like tinctures, teas, powders and poultices, for their growing interest as alternative therapies for the prevention or treatment of various diseases [1]
Phytochemists and biologists have paid no attention to this taxon; nothing was reported on the chemical composition and biological effects of crude and volatile extracts of Teucrium pseudochamaepitys anywhere in the world
To evaluate its possible use as an alternative or complementary cancer treatment, the antiviral activity was tested on Coxsackie 4 (CV-B4), a pathogenic enterovirus causing a wide range of human diseases, such as type 1 diabetes [9], myocarditis [10] and CNS pathologies among new-born and infants [11], by determining the concentration thatinhibited virus plaque formation and virus-induced cytopathogenicity by 50% (IC50)
Summary
Medicinal plants have been used as herbal formulations in crude forms, like tinctures, teas, powders and poultices, for their growing interest as alternative therapies for the prevention or treatment of various diseases [1]. Essential oils from medicinal and aromatic plants are still considered as rich sources of a huge number of antimicrobial and antifungal components [2]. A wide number of these species are rich in strongly-bioactive phenolic compounds and are used in folkloric medicine, in the food industry and in pharmacies for their antimicrobial, antinociceptive, antioxidant, hypolipidemic, anti-inflammatory and hypoglycemic properties [6]. Due to the wide spectrum of their biological activities, several essential oils from Teucrium aromatic plants play an important role to treat various human diseases [7]. As a part of our work on the characterization of aromatic and medicinal plants growing spontaneously in Tunisia, we are reporting the first studies on the chemical composition, the antioxidant and antiproliferative effects of the essential oil from the aerial parts of Teucrium pseudochamaepitys collected in the mountains of the Zaghouan region, northeast of Tunisia. To evaluate its possible use as an alternative or complementary cancer treatment, the antiviral activity was tested on Coxsackie 4 (CV-B4), a pathogenic enterovirus causing a wide range of human diseases, such as type 1 diabetes [9], myocarditis [10] and CNS pathologies among new-born and infants [11], by determining the concentration thatinhibited virus plaque formation and virus-induced cytopathogenicity by 50% (IC50)
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