Mohammad-Reza Delnavazi, Farzin Baba-ali, Sepideh Soufiabadi, Mona Sherafatmand, Fariba Ghahremani, Saeed Tavakoli, Narguess Yassa*
Abstract
Background: Lamiaceae family is
one of the main sources of aromatic and medicinal plants. In the present study
essential oil constituents, free radical-scavenging activity and total phenolic
content of the aerial parts of four Lamiaceae taxa, Ziziphora tenuior (ZT),
Scutellaria orientalis subsp. virens (SO), Eremostachys laciniata subsp.
iberica (EL) and Phlomis herba-venti subsp. pungens (PH), collected from
"Mishu-Dagh" region (Northwest of Iran) were investigated. Methods:
GC and GC-MS were applied for the analysis of plants oils. Free
radical-scavenging activity and total phenolic content of the plants
hydroalcoholic extracts and their polar and non-polar fractions were also
evaluated using DPPH and Folin-Ciocalteu methods, respectively. Results: A total
of 58 compounds were identified in essential oils, among them 1,8-cineol
(19.6%), germacrene D (16.5%), linalool (10.2%) and germacrene D (11.7%) were
characterized as main compounds in ZT, SO, EL and PH oils, respectively. In
DPPH assay, polar fractions of EL and ZT exhibited considerable free
radical-scavenging activity (IC50; 11.0 ± 2.3 and 12.7 ± 2.7 μg ml-1,
respectively) in comparison with BHT (IC50; 10.8 ± 2.1 μg ml-1). The former
fractions were also found to contain the highest total phenolic content (231.9
± 9.3 and 214.1 ± 11.3 mg EGA/g, respectively). Conclusion: The present study
introduces these four taxa as the plants with terpene rich oils and suggests
them as potential sources of free radical-scavenging compounds.