Anti-inflammatory activity of the essential oils of Cymbopogon validus (Stapf) Stapf ex Burtt Davy from Eastern Cape, South Africa

Pamela Rungqu; Opeoluwa Oyedeji; Benedicta Nkeh-Chungag; Sandile Songca; Oluwatobi Oluwafemi; Adebola Oyedeji

doi:10.1016/j.apjtm.2016.03.031

Anti-inflammatory activity of the essential oils of Cymbopogon validus (Stapf) Stapf ex Burtt Davy from Eastern Cape, South Africa

Asian Pac J Trop Med. 2016 May;9(5):426-31. doi: 10.1016/j.apjtm.2016.03.031. Epub 2016 Mar 23.

Authors

Pamela Rungqu¹, Opeoluwa Oyedeji², Benedicta Nkeh-Chungag³, Sandile Songca⁴, Oluwatobi Oluwafemi⁵, Adebola Oyedeji⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, University of Fort Hare, Alice 5700, South Africa.
² Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, University of Fort Hare, Alice 5700, South Africa. Electronic address: ooyedeji@ufh.ac.za.
³ Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha 5099, South Africa.
⁴ Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha 5099, South Africa.
⁵ Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Johannesburg, Doornfontein 2028, South Africa.

PMID: 27261849
DOI: 10.1016/j.apjtm.2016.03.031

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the essential oil composition and the anti-inflammatory activity of Cymbopogon validus (C. validus) leaves and flowers.

Methods: A total of 300 g of fresh or dry (leaves and flowers) of C. validus were cut into small pieces and subjected to hydro-distillation method for approximately 5 h using the Clevenger apparatus. The extracted essential oils were then used for testing the anti-inflammatory activity. The anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated by using egg albumin-induced paw edema.

Results: The extracted oils had the following yields 2.2% for fresh leaves, 2.0% for dry leaves and 2.4% v/w for dry flowers. GC-MS results revealed that the oils contained artemisia ketone (37.5%), linalool (3.2%-29.6%), northujane (4.4%-16.8%), verbenone (13.5%), naphthalene (1.7%-9.6%), δ-cadinene (0.5%-8.1%), hedycaryol (5.4%-7.6%) and α-eudesmol (6.5%-6.7%) as the major constituents. C. validus essential oils showed significant (P < 0.05) anti-inflammatory effects from the first 30 min after albumin injection compared to aspirin which had a later onset of effect.

Conclusions: The findings of this study show that the essential oil extracted from C. validus fresh or dry leaves and flowers have anti-inflammatory properties; that might be associated with the major components and the minor components found in the essential oils.

Keywords: Anti-inflammation; Artemisia ketone; Cymbopogon validus; Egg albumin-induced edema; Essential oils; Linalool.