Novel antiplatelet and antithrombotic activities of essential oil from Lavandula hybrida Reverchon "grosso"

Lavender extracts are known to produce several mild effects at central and peripheral level. However, no studies are so far available about the potential effects of lavender essential oil on the hemostatic system. In this work, we demonstrated antiplatelet properties of lavender oil towards platelet aggregation induced by arachidonic acid, U46619, collagen and ADP (IC50 = 51, 84, 191 and 640 microg/ml, respectively) on guinea-pig platelet rich plasma (PRP) and its ability to destabilize clot retraction (IC50 = 149 microg/ml) induced by thrombin on rat PRP. Furthermore, antithrombotic properties were studied in an in vivo model of pulmonary thromboembolism induced by intravenous injection of a collagen-epinephrine mixture in mice subacutely treated with lavender oil. In this model, lavender oil (100 mg/kg/day os for 5 days) significantly reduced thrombotic events without inducing prohemorrhagic complications at variance with acetylsalicylic acid used as reference drug. Finally, main components of the oil were studied in vitro in order to assess their antiplatelet effects, but none of them possessed an activity comparable to the oil itself. These results provide the first experimental evidence of lavender oil's antiplatelet/antithrombotic properties which could be due to a synergistic effect of its components.