CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF THE ESSENTIAL OIL FROM CYMBOPOGON NARDUS (L.) RENDLE
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| Title | CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF THE ESSENTIAL OIL FROM CYMBOPOGON NARDUS (L.) RENDLE |
| Authors | |
| Abstract | The essential oil from the leaves, culms and rhizomes of Cymbopogon nardus were extracted and volatile oils were investigated for the first time using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC/MS). Alpha-cubebene, camphene, geraniol, limonene, myrcene, palmitic acid and sabinen were the major compounds identified. The essential oil was investigated for its antioxidant (DPPH assay), anti-inflammatory (5-lipoxygenase assay), antimicrobial (disk diffusion) and anti-mosquito properties (insecticidal, larvicidal and repellency assays). The oil showed poor antimicrobial activity and inhibited the growth of Bacillus, Micrococcus and Staphylococcus with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 0.0625 (vol/vol). The oil showed antioxidant activity, scavenging more than 80% of DPPH free radicals and did not show any anti-inflammatory activity. It also showed good adulticidal activity (53.7% mortality) and excellent larvicidal (100% mortality) and repellent activity (100% repellency) against Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes, which are malarial vectors. The results of this study show that the essential oil from C. nardus possesses, antioxidant, antibacterial and anti-mosquito activities which may be associated with its predominant compounds viz., α-cubebene, camphene, geraniol, limonene, myrcene, palmitic acid and sabinen. These results lead the way for exploiting C. nardus oil as a multi-functional agent. |
| Publisher | African Ethnomedicines Network |
| Date | 2009-06-07 |
| Source | African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative medicines (AJTCAM) ABSTRACTS OF THE WORLD CONGRESS ON MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS, CAPE TOWN NOVEMBER 2008 |
| Rights | Articles can be used for educational and non-comercial purposes. The copyrights of articles are retained by the authors with publication rights granted to AJTCAM. |