Farideh Mohammadifar
1, Mohammad-Reza Delnavazi
2, Narguess Yassa
2*1 Faculty of Pharmacy, International Campus, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (IC - TUMS), Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicinal Plant Research Center , Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
Background:Phlomis olivieri Benth. and Phlomis
persica Boiss. (Lamiaceae) are two medicinal species endemic to Iran. In
the present study, we investigated the chemical compositions and general
toxicity potentials of the essential oils obtained from the aerial parts of
these two Phlomis species. Method: The essential oils of
the plants were extracted using hydrodistillation method. CG and CG-MS were
applied to analyze the chemical constituents of the essential oils and brine
shrimp lethality test (BSLT) was used for the evaluation of general toxicity
effects of the essential oils. Results: A total of 46 compounds
were identified in the plants essential oils, among them β-caryophyllene
(25.7%) and germacrene D (19.5) in P. olivieri and germacrene D (17.2%)
and γ-elemene (15.4%) in P. persica were the main compounds. The essential oils of P.
olivieri and P. persica exhibited a moderate toxicity activity (LD50:
24.2 ± 0.5 and 41.6 ± 0.8 μg/ml, respectively) in brine
shrimp lethality test compared to podophyllotoxin (LD50: 2.8 ± 0.3 μg/ml). Conclusion:
The results of present study report essential oils of P. olivieri
and P. persica as two sesquiterpene rich oils with the moderate toxic
activity. The chemical constituents of the analyzed essential oils were also
found to be different from those reported from other regions of Iran, which may
be due to the existence of possible different chemotypes between the populations
of these two species.