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Published on: December 5, 2020
Anticonvulsant activity and chemical composition of Artemisia dracunculus L. essential oil
Mohammad Sayyah1, Leila Nadjafnia, Mohammad Kamalinejad
1Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Institute Pasteur of Iran, Tehran. sayyah@institute.pasteur.ac.ir
Abstract:
Artemisia dracunculus L. (Asteraceae) has been used orally as an antiepileptic remedy in Iranian folkloric medicine. The anticonvulsant potential and composition of the essential oil obtained from the aerial parts of the plant were assessed in this study. The essential oil exerted dose- and time-dependent antiseizure activity in both maximal electroshock (MES) and pentylenetetrazole models of experimental seizures with ED50 values of 0.84 and 0.26 ml/kg, respectively. At some anticonvulsant doses, the essential oil produced sedation and motor impairment assessed by rotarod test. Gas chromatography (GC)/mass spectrometry (MS) analysis of the essential oil revealed the presence of trans-anethole (21.1%), alpha-trans-ocimene (20.6%), limonene (12.4%), alpha-pinene (5.1%), allo ocimene (4.8%), methyl eugenol (2.2%), beta-pinene (0.8%), alpha-terpinolene (0.5%), bornyl acetate (0.5%) and bicyclogermacrene (0.5%) as the main components. The observed anticonvulsant and sedative effects could be related to the presence of monoterpenoids in the essential oil.
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