Essential oil of <i>Thymus pectinatus</i> Fisch&Mey.var.<i>Pectinatus</i>: Chemical formation, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antispasmodic and angiogenic activities

Abstract

Background: Thymus species are well-known as medicinal plants. It was aimed to investigate the chemical composition of Thymus pectinatus (TP) and its antioxidant, antimicrobial, antispasmodic, and angiogenic activities.

Materials and Methods: After essential oil of TP (EO-TP) was obtained with clevenger distillation system, it was analyzed for chemical composition with GC-MS. To study antispasmodic activity, eight male Wistar albino rats each weighing approximately 250-300 g were used.

Results: The results of the analysis revealed 19 components, which equals to 92.93 of the essential oil. The following are the main components; thymol (48.77%), m-cymene (9.15%), isoborneol (5.19%), trans-caryophyllene (4.43%), carvacrol (3.91%) and ϒ-terpinene (3.54%). It has been found that microorganisms subjected to whole all of microbiological tests are highly resistant to EO-TP. 2,2- diphenyl-l-picrylhydrazyl, hydroxyl radical, along with superoxide radical scavenging, and lipid peroxidation says were utilized to show the antioxidant activities of the EO-TP. In measuring its effect, 0.1 mg/mL and 0.5 mg/mL dosage of the EO-TP was applied to the rat ileum as a result of which the magnitude and the frequency of the contractions were observed to be significantly.

Conclusion: It was also understood that EO-TP had angiogenic effect upon the vein system of the embryos of chicks. There is a need for further studies to clarify the mechanisms of antimicrobial, antioxidant and angiogenic effects and to determine the constituents of EO-TP responsible from these effects, especially the angiogenic.

Keywords: Thymus pectinatus, essential oil, angiogenic, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antispasmodic activity, shell-less chick embryo culture