Chemical composition and anti-inflammatory activity of Apium graveolens var. dulce essential oils from Senegal

anglais. peer reviewed

anglais. Apium graveolens var. dulce commonly known as celery, belongs to the Apiaceae family. It is used especially as a vegetable and medicinal plant. In Senegal, A. graveolens is used as a food condiment. The aim of this work is to study the chemical composition of A. graveolens stems (S), leaves (L) essential oils and anti-inflammatory activity. GC/FID and GC/MS analyzes carried out on essential oils obtained by steam distillation showed that oils from both stems and leaves were characterized by the same major constituents α-pinene, the prominent compound of oils represented 69.3 and 68.4% for stems (S) and leaves (L), respectively. It is followed by limonene (9.5 and 9.8%), α-phellandrene (5.5 and 5.9%) and β-pinene (4.8 and 4.3%). These compounds represented 89.1% (S) and 88.4% (L) of the total essential oils content. Anti-inflammatory activity was measured by the inhibition of 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) by A. graveolens essential oil anti-inflammatory assays revealed an IC50 of 29.5±2.0 µg/mL for A. graveolens oils and 23.7±0.5 µg/mL for quercetine used as a reference. This study showed that essential oils of A. graveolens was an important source of α-pinene who is probably responsible of its anti-inflammatory properties.

WBI-Sénégal n°2: Production d’huiles essentielles à partir de plantes locales: expérimentation, adaptation et diffusion de technologies