Lippia alba and Eucalyptus sp essential oil: biological and chemical characterization

Abstract

Essential oils (OE) are special plant metabolites biosynthesized from isoprene and have variable biological properties according to their components. The objective of this work was to characterize the components that belong to Eucalyptus grandis (EG) and Eucalyptus microcorys (EM) EO‟s leaves and Lippia alba (LA) flowers and leaves EO as well. Also to evaluate the cited EO on the enzymes and toxins present in the venoms of Bothrops moojeni and Lachesis muta. The major components of EO of EG and EM were Cineol 1.8 (55.24% and 57.14%, respectively); for Lippia alba was the Geranial in the proportions of 38.06% in leaf and 49.83% in flower. EG and EM OE presented thrombolytic activity while Lippia presented pro-coagulant effects on the thrombus at doses of 0.6 and 1.2 μL. EG and EM OE increased coagulation time of citrated human plasma while LA flower decreased when B.moojeni was tested. Eucalyptus EO have a protective activity on hemolysis. On genotoxicity, EG OE presented similar results to positive controls: 59.8 to 66.0% of damage (Doxorubicin 100 μg: 80% damage; Lachesis muta 50μg: 70.5%). The OE of EM had a lower frequency of damage: 23.9 to 33%. For LA, OE had a frequency of damage of 14.4 to 15.4%. When tested essential and L.muta venom together, leaf OE protected DNA from human leukocytes and presented damage from 11.6 to 34.9%. The data obtained suggest a high potential of the evaluated oils as enzymatic inhibitors, focusing mainly on phospholipases, serinoproteases and metalloproteases, which affect processes related to human hemostasis.