Chemical composition, acute toxicity, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Moroccan Tetraclinis articulata L.

Hydro-distilled essential oil (EO) from the leaves of the western Mediterranean and Moroccan endemic plant Tetraclinis articulata was analyzed by GC/MS and examined for its acute toxicity on mice, in order to establish the safe doses. Furthermore, the anti-Inflammatory activity was evaluated based on carrageenan and trauma induced rats paw edema and the antioxidant potential has been investigated using different methods including DPPH radical-scavenging assay, Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and Ferric-reducing antioxidant power assay (FRAP). The major identified compounds in GC/MS analysis were bornyl acetate (26.81%), camphor (22.40%) and α-pinene (7.16%), with 25 other minor constituents. No mortalities in acute toxicity were observed, indicating that the LD50 of T. articulata essential oil is highest than 5 g/kg. In the anti-inflammatory test based on chemical and mechanical induced trauma, the EO demonstrated an effective reduce swelling by 64.71 ± 9.38% and 69.09 ± 6.02% respectively obtained 6 h after administration at the dose of 200 mg/kg when compared to the control groups. Moreover in the antioxidant testing battery, T. articulata essential oil showed a promising scavenging effect measured by DPPH, TEAC and ferric-reducing power assays with IC50 values of 12.05 ± 0.24 mg/mL, 8.90 ± 0.17 mg/mL and 0.15 ± 0.01 mg/mL respectively. These results suggest that, the EO from the leaves of T. articulata constitutes a valuable source of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant metabolites. These findings argue for the possible integration of this oil in pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries.

Evaluation of anxiolytic activity of methanolic extract of Urtica urens in a mice model.

BACKGROUND: The present study was designed to study anxiolytic property of methanolic extracts of Urtica urens; an important and commonly used for its medicinal properties belongs to urticaceae family. METHODS: The anxiolytic activity was evaluated with the adult mice by hole board test, and the light-dark box test, and motor coordination with the rota rod test. The efficacy of the plant extract (100-400 mg/kg) was compared with the standard anxiolytic drug diazepam (1 mg/kg i.p.) RESULTS: The extract increased the time spent in the brightly-lit chamber of the light/dark box, as well as in the number of times the animal crossed from one compartment to the other. Performance on the rota rod was unaffected. In the hole board test, the extract significantly increased both head-dip counts and head-dip duration. Urtica urens, in contrast to diazepam, had no effect on locomotion. CONCLUSIONS: These results provides support for anxiolytic activity of Urtica urens, in line with its medicinal traditional use, and may also suggest a better side-effect profile of Urtica urens relative to diazepam.