1. Evaluation of basil extract ( Ocimum basilicum L.) on oxidative, anti-genotoxic and anti-inflammatory effects in human leukocytes cell cultures exposed to challenging agents
- Author
-
Luís Flávio Souza de Oliveira, Camila Martins Güez, Luísa Zuravski, Maria Fernanda De Moura Leão, Paula Fischer, Raul Oliveira de Souza, Aline Augusti Boligon, Jonathaline Apollo Duarte, Margareth Linde Athayde, and Michel Mansur Machado
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Antioxidant ,food.ingredient ,medicine.drug_class ,medicine.medical_treatment ,lcsh:RS1-441 ,Ocimum basilicum/anti-inflammatory properties ,Anti-inflammatory ,lcsh:Pharmacy and materia medica ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,0302 clinical medicine ,food ,Botany ,medicine ,General Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics ,Ocimum basilicum/genotoxic effects ,Medicinal plants/study ,biology ,Traditional medicine ,Chemistry ,Rosmarinic acid ,Basilicum ,biology.organism_classification ,Ocimum ,030104 developmental biology ,Polyphenol ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Cardiovascular agent ,Lamiaceae ,Ocimum basilicum/evaluation - Abstract
Ocimum is one of the most important genera of the Lamiaceae family. Several studies about basil and its popular use reveal many characteristics of the herb, including its use as antioxidant, anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, anti-microbial, and cardiovascular agents, among others. In this paper, we evaluated genotoxic, oxidative, and anti-inflammatory parameters from the extract of Ocimum basilicum in different concentrations, using human leukocytes cultures exposed to challenging agents. Our results confirm that the O. basilicum extract acts as an antioxidant and effectively reverts or subjugates the effects of high oxidizing agents such as hydrogen peroxide. These actions are attributed to its composition, which is rich in polyphenols and flavonoids as well as compounds such as rosmarinic acid, all of which have well-known antioxidant activity. We also show that our basil extract presents anti-inflammatory properties, the mechanism of which is a composed interaction between the inhibition of pro-inflammatory mediator and the stimulation of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Although pharmacodynamics studies are necessary to evaluate the activities in vivo, our results demonstrated that basil could act as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory and a possible alternative for medicinal treatment.
- Published
- 2017