Acetylcholinesterase inhibitory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities of Salvia tomentosa Mill. essential oil

• Main Authors: ANDREY MARCHEV, IVAN IVANOV, PETKO DENEV, MILENA NIKOLOVA, VELIZAR GOCHEV, ALBENA STOYANOVA, ATANAS PAVLOV, VASIL GEORGIEV
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Plovdiv University Press 2015-08-01
• Series: Journal of BioScience and Biotechnology
• Subjects: Balsamic sage; antibacterial; aromatherapy; anti-acetylcholinesterase
• Online Access: http://www.jbb.uni-plovdiv.bg/documents/27807/1014561/jbb_2015-4(2)-pages_219-229.pdf

Chemical composition and bioactivity of essential oil from Salvia tomentosa Mill. natively grown in Bulgaria were investigated. GC-MS analysis identified 60 compounds which represented 98% of the oil constituents. The prevalent constituents were monoterpenes with eight dominant compounds being identified: borneol (10.3%), β-pinene (9%), camphor (7.9%), α-pinene (6%), camphene (4%), 1.8-cineole (3.8%), α-limonene (3.5%) and β-caryophyllene (3%). The essential oil showed considerable acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity (IC50=0.28±0.06 µg/mL), comparable with that of galanthamine. Study of antioxidant activity strongly suggested that the hydrogen atom transfer reaction was preferable over the electron transfer (ORAC=175.0±0.40 µM Trolox equivalents/g oil and FRAP=1.45±0.21 mM Trolox equivalents/g oil). The essential oil showed moderate antifungal and antibacterial activities against Candida albicans and Gram-positive bacteria, whereas it was almost inactive against the investigated Gram-negative strains. The results suggested that the essential oil of Bulgarian S. tomentosa could be considered as a prospective active ingredient for prevention of oxidative stress-related and neurodegenerative disorders in aromatherapy. Because of the high antioxidant capacity, the oil could be considered as natural supplement or antioxidant in cosmetics and food products.