Chemical constituents, antiinflammatory and antinociceptive activities of essential oils from Cordia millenii, Bougainvillea glabra and Phyllanthus muellerianus

Abstract

Essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation of air-dry leaves of Cordia millenii Bak. (Boraginaceae), Bougainvillea glabra Choisy (Nyctaginaceae) and Phyllanthus muellerianus (Kuntze) Exell. (Euphorbiaceae) using a Clevenger-type apparatus. The chemical constituents of the oils were analyzed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry on an HP-5MS column. The major constituents of C. millenii were limonene (19.9%), diallyl disulfide (18.4%), β-caryophyllene (16.6%) and linalool (13.4%) while (E)-nerolidol (31.4%), (E)-β-ionone (10.3%) and linalool (10.1%) were present in B. glabra. Hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (11.6%), isocaryophyllene (9.8%) and limonene (9.4%) occurred in higher proportions in P. muellerianus. The antinociceptive properties of C. millenii oil were statistically not significantly different (p>0.05) when compared to the control for most tested concentrations except at the 120^th minute (p<0.05) for the dose of 200 mg/kg p.o. This dose displayed antiinflammatory activity only at the 1^st hour (p<0.01) while the others were statistically not significantly different (p>0.05) when compared to the control. The antinociceptive properties of the essential oil of B. glabra were statistically significantly different, p<0.05 and p<0.01 at the doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg p.o., respectively, when compared to the control at the 30^th minute but much more effective (p <0.001) at a dose of 400 mg/kg. For the 1^st and 2^nd hour, at the doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg (p <0.001), the antiinflammatory activity was statistically significantly (very low values of p) different from the control, while at the 3^rd hour, it was significant (p <0.01) at a dose of 300 mg/kg but there were no statistical differences observable at the 4^th hour. The essential of P. muellerianus at 100 mg/kg p.o. displayed an increased antinociceptive activity with p<0.01 to p <0.001 from the 30^th to the 120^th minute. Moreover, the oil showed a high inhibition, with up to p <0.001, in the case of carrageenan-induced inflammation.