Conclusions
T. minuta essential oil has radical scavenging and anti-inflammatory activities and could potentially be used as a safe effective source of natural anti-oxidants in therapy against oxidative damage and stress associated with some inflammatory conditions.
Methods
In the present study T. minuta essential oil was obtained from leaves of T. minuta via hydro-distillation and then was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The anti-oxidant capacity of T. minuta essential oil was examined by measuring reactive oxygen, reactive nitrogen species and hydrogen peroxide scavenging. The anti-inflammatory activity of T. minuta essential oil was determined through measuring NADH oxidase, inducible nitric oxide synthase and TNF-α mRNA expression in lipopolysacharide-stimulated murine macrophages using real-time PCR.
Objective
To investigate antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of Tagetes minuta (T. minuta) essential oil.
Results
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis indicated that the main components in the T. minuta essential oil were dihydrotagetone (33.86%), E-ocimene (19.92%), tagetone (16.15%), cis-β-ocimene (7.94%), Z-ocimene (5.27%), limonene (3.1%) and epoxyocimene (2.03%). The T. minuta essential oil had the ability to scavenge all reactive oxygen/reactive nitrogen species radicals with IC50 12-15 µg/mL, which indicated a potent radical scavenging activity. In addition, T. minuta essential oil significantly reduced NADH oxidase, inducible nitric oxide synthaseand TNF-α mRNA expression in the cells at concentrations of 50 µg/mL, indicating a capacity of this product to potentially modulate/diminish immune responses. Conclusions: T. minuta essential oil has radical scavenging and anti-inflammatory activities and could potentially be used as a safe effective source of natural anti-oxidants in therapy against oxidative damage and stress associated with some inflammatory conditions.