Aromatične biljke i njihov postdestilacioni ostatak kao potencijalna sirovina za farmaceutsku industriju

Abstract

<p>Aromatic plants thyme (Thymus vulgaris), lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) and peppermint (Mentha x piperita) have long tradition of use. The majority of produced plant material is used for the production of drugs and isolation of essential oils. However, since esential oils are present in very low amounts (0.02-4%) the largest amount of studied plants remains unused. The aim of this thesis was chemical, biochemical, microbiological and pharmacological analysis of waste material extracts (stems, postdistillation waste, dearomatized leaves) and the comparison of obtained results with officially prepared extracts. Investigated waste extracts are a rich source of phenolic compounds, where rosmarinic acid was determined as the dominant one (7.05-105.08 mg/g s.e.). Antioxidant potential and hepatoprotective effect of waste extracts is comparable with official extracts, where the most active ones were those prepared by treating the dearomatized leaves with both 45% and 75% ethanol. Also, regarding antimicrobial activity, waste extracts express similar effect to official ones. When inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), as one of the possible mechanisms of action of potential drugs used in the treatment of Alzheimer&#39;s disease was tested similar results were obtained. In addition, the extracts showed a stronger effect than the isolated rosmarinic acid suggesting a potential synergistic effect of phenolic compounds on AChE inhibition. Results of pharmacological studies on experimental animals showed that thyme and lemon balm extracts (official and those made from dearomatized leaves) interfere with the effect of the drug midazolame, but not fluoxetine. None of examined extracts exerted the influence on motor coordination, nor acted as antidepressive. Examined lemon balm extracts posses anxiolytic effect, which together with the results of antioxidant potential and inhibition of AChE indicates their potential use in prevention and symptomatic therapy of Alzheimer&#39;s disease. Also, they have the largest potential to improve memory in novel object recognition test. Thyme, lemon balm and peppermint waste extracts represent significant source of phenolic compounds, especially rosmarinic acid and can be used in pharmaceutical industry for the production of various phytopreparations and in food industry as natural additives.</p>