Abstract
► This is the first report of the extraction of the essential oil of A. pseudoiva growing in Tunisia. ► Thirty-two compounds were identified accounting for 95.76% of the total oil. ► The essential oil showed higher radical scavengers and lipid peroxidation inhibitory activities. ► The A. pseudoiva oil exerted strong antimicrobial and ACE inhibitory activities. ► The A. pseudoiva oil could be a useful as natural food preservatives.
The essential oil of Ajuga pseudoiva, collected from Tunisia, was analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy. Thirty-two compounds accounting for 95.76% of the total oil were identified. Sesquiterpenes were found to be the most abundant components of A. pseudoiva oil. And they were mainly represented by viridiflorol (30.17%), germacrene B (9.26%) (α, β and γ)-eudesmol (8.11%) and aromadendrene (7.45%). The essential oil of A. pseudoiva showed radical scavengers activity (IC50=0.72mg/mL) and displayed lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity (IC50=0.6mg/mL). A. pseudoiva essential oil was also found to exhibit a dose-dependent ACE inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 65.5μg/mL. Moreover, the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil was tested against 17 species of microorganisms, and the results obtained showed significant antibacterial activity against the Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, with inhibition zones and minimal inhibitory concentration values of 14–32mm and 84–137μg/mL and 6–21mm and 105–336μg/mL, respectively. Higher activity was also found against several fungal strains.