Abstract
The study of bioactive molecules of natural origin is a focus of current research. Thymus algeriensis and Artemisia herba-alba are two medicinal plants widely used by the Moroccan population in the traditional treatment of several pathologies linked to inflammation. This study aimed to evaluate the single and combined antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of the essential oils extracted from these two medicinal plants, and also their potential toxicity. Essential oils were extracted using hydro-distillation in a Clevenger-type apparatus. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by two methods: the scavenging of the free radical DPPH, and the reduction in iron. Anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated by evaluating the edema development induced by carrageenan injecting, while the analgesic power was evaluated according to the number of abdominal contortions induced by the intraperitoneal injection of acetic acid (0.7%). The acute oral toxicity was performed to assess the potential toxicity of the studied EOs, followed by an analysis of the blood biochemical parameters. The results of the two antioxidant tests indicated that our extract mixture exhibits good iron reduction capacity and very interesting DPPH free radical scavenging power, with an IC50 of around 4.38 ± 0.98 μg/mL higher than that of the benchmark antioxidant, BHT. The anti-inflammatory test demonstrated that the mixture administered orally at a dose of 150 mg/kg has a better activity, exceeding that of 1% Diclofenac, with a percentage of maximum inhibition of the edema of 89.99 ± 4.08. The number of cramps in the mice treated with the mixture at a dose of 150 mg/kg is significantly lower (29.80 ± 1.92) than those of the group treated with Tramadol (42.00 ± 2.70), respectively. The toxicity results show no signs of toxicity with an LD50 greater than 150 mg/Kg. These interesting results show that the two plants’ EOs had an important anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antioxidant activity, and also a powerful synergistic effect, which encourages further in-depth investigations on their pharmacological proprieties.
Highlights
In the global approach of the evaluation of the commonly used essential oils by the populations and to study their probable toxicity or undesirable effect, two Moroccan plants were investigated, namely Artemisia herba-alba and Thymus algeriensis.From the Lamiaceae family, the genus Thymus is among the most widespread genera of medicinal plants in the Mediterranean region with 215 species [1]
The aerial parts of A. herba-alba provided a yield of 0.6%.This finding agrees with that of Hazzit et al [1] for the same species (0.4%); it is similar to that found by Amarti et al (2011) for the Rchida region in eastern Morocco (0.3%) [5], and it is much lower than that obtained by Dob et al [13] for the aerial parts of T. algeriensis (1.13%)
Our findings revealed that the mixture of essential oils from the two study plants exhibited the lowest IC50 of around 4.38 ± 0.98 μg/mL, which shows substantial inhibition of the oxidation induced by the DPPH radical
Summary
In the global approach of the evaluation of the commonly used essential oils by the populations and to study their probable toxicity or undesirable effect, two Moroccan plants were investigated, namely Artemisia herba-alba and Thymus algeriensis.From the Lamiaceae family, the genus Thymus is among the most widespread genera of medicinal plants in the Mediterranean region with 215 species [1]. In the global approach of the evaluation of the commonly used essential oils by the populations and to study their probable toxicity or undesirable effect, two Moroccan plants were investigated, namely Artemisia herba-alba and Thymus algeriensis. Artemisia herba-alba is a species in the Asteraceae family It is a perennial, silverygreenish dwarf shrub grows in arid and semi-arid climates in the deserts of Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East, extending to the northwest of the Himalayas [8]. Silverygreenish dwarf shrub grows in arid and semi-arid climates in the deserts of Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East, extending to the northwest of the Himalayas [8] It is widely used in traditional medicine against several pathologies, including diabetes, colds, coughs, intestinal disorders, and in the treatment of human and livestock injuries [9]. The essential oil of this plant is well studied for its antibacterial, antifungal, antiacetylcholinesterase, and antiproliferative [10,11,12]
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