Evaluation of Essential Oil Composition and Rosmarinic Acid Content in Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis L.) Cultivated in South of Iran

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Pharmacognosy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Traditional Pharmacy, Faculty of Traditional Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Plant Pathology, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran

4 Department of Horticultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Melissa officinalis L. is used since ancient times in folk medicine because of its sedative, digestive, carminative, spasmolytic and analgesic effects. Its therapeutic impact is due to the essential oil content and rosmarinic acid. This study was designed to determine chemical composition of essential oil and rosmarinic acid content of M. officinalis cultivated in Fars province in south of Iran. The essential oil was obtained by hydro-distillation of dried aerial parts of harvested M. officinalis and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Rosmarinic acid content was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. The results showed that essential oil content was 0.37% and its main constituents were geranial (28.9%), neral (21.5%), geranyl acetate (19.3%), caryophyllene oxide (7.0%), (E)-caryophyllene (6.8%), thymol (3.1%) and citronellal (2.9%). Rosmarinic acid content was 3% in dry weight. Our findings show south of Iran has suitable potential for production of M. officinalis with high quality for therapeutic usages.

Keywords

References

1. Shakeri A, Sahebkar A, Javadi B. Melissa officinalis L.–A review of its traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology. J Ethnopharmacol. 2016;188:204-228.
2. Verma PP, Singh A, Rahaman L, Bahl JR. Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) an herbal medicinal plant with broad therapeutic uses and cultivation practices: A review. Int J Rec Adv Multidisciplinary Res. 2015;2:928-933.
3. Bağdat RB, Coşge B. The essential oil of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.), its components and using fields. Anadolu Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi. 2006;21:116-121.
4. Miraj S, Rafieian-Kopaei, Kiani S. Melissa officinalis L: A review study with an antioxidant prospective. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2017;22:385-394.
5. Öztürk N, Tunçel M, Uysal UD, Oncu-Kaya EM, Koyuncu O. Determination of rosmarinic acid by high-performance liquid chromatography and its application to certain Salvia species and rosemary. Food Methods. 2011;4:300-306.
6. Ghasemi Dehkordi N, Sajadi SE, Ghanadi AR, Amanzadeh M, Asghari GhR. Iranian Herbal Pharmacopoeia, Ministry of Health Pub. 2002.
7. Habtemariam S. Molecular pharmacology of rosmarinic and salvianolic acids: Potential seeds for Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia drugs. Int J Mol Sci. 2018;19:458.
8. Huang SS, Zheng RL. Rosmarinic acid inhibits angiogenesis and its mechanism of action in vitro. Cancer Lett. 2006;239:271-280.
9. Han J, Wang D, Ye L, Li P, Hao W, Chen X, Ma J, Wang B, Shang J, Li D, Zheng Q. Rosmarinic acid protects against inflammation and cardiomyocyte apoptosis during myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury by activating peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma. Front Pharmacol. 2017;8:456.
10. Bhatt R, Mishra N, Bansal PK. Phytochemical, pharmacological and pharmacokinetics effects of rosmarinic acid. J Pharm Sci Innov. 2013;2:28-34.
11. Cornejo A, Aguilar Sandoval F, Caballero L, Machuca L, Muñoz P, Caballero J, Perry G, Ardiles A, Areche C, Melo F. Rosmarinic acid prevents fibrillation and diminishes vibrational modes associated to β sheet in tau protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease. J Enzyme Inhib Med Chem. 2017;32:945-953.
12. British Pharmacopoeia Commission Office. British Pharmacopoeia. The Stationary Office Pub. 2002.
13. World Health Organization. WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants (Vol. 2), World Health Organization Pub. 1999.
14. Kittler J, Krüger H, Lohwasser U, Ulrich D, Zeiger B, Schütze W, Böttcher C, Gudi G, Kästner U, Marthe F. Evaluation of 28 balm and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) accessions for content and composition of essential oil and content of rosmarinic acid. Genet Resour Crop Evol. 2018;65:745-757.
15. Taherpour A, Maroofi H, Rafie Z, Larijani K. Chemical composition analysis of the essential oil of Melissa officinalis L. from Kurdistan, Iran by HS/SPME method and calculation of the biophysicochemical coefficients of the components. Nat Prod Res. 2012;26:152-160.
16. Mohamadpoor H, Ghasemi Pirbalouti A, Malekpoor F, Hamedi B. Chemical composition and bioactivity of the essential oil of Melissa officinalis L., Cultivated in Southwestern, Iran. J. Herbal Drugs. 2018;8:213-218.
17. Arzhang M, Dakhili M, Farahani F. Investigation of chemical compounds and anti-microbial activity of essential oil of Melissa officinalis L. Qom Univ Med Sci J. 2015;9:7-13.
18. Mimica-Dukic N, Bozin B, Sokovic M, Simin N. Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Melissa officinalis L.(Lamiaceae) essential oil. J Agric Food Chem. 2004;52:2485-2489.
19. Sharopov FS, Wink M, Khalifaev DR, Zhang H, Dosoky NS, Setzer WN. Composition and bioactivity of the essential oil of Melissa officinalis L. growing wild in Tajikistan. Int J Tradition Nat Med. 2013;2:86-96.
20. Seidler-Łożykowska K, Zawirska-Wojtasiak R, Wojtowicz E, Bocianowski J. Essential oil content and its composition in herb of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) breeding strains. J Essent Oil Res. 2017;29:351-356.
21. Abdellatif F, Boudjella H, Zitouni A, Hassani A. Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil from leaves of Algerian Melissa officinalis L. Excli J. 2014;13:772–781.
22. Shabby AS, El-Gengaihi S, Khattab M. Oil of Melissa officinalis L., as affected by storage and herb drying. J. Essent. Oil Res. 1995;7:667-669.
23. Carnat AP, Carnat A, Fraisse D, Lamaison JL. The aromatic and polyphenolic composition of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L. subsp. officinalis) tea. Pharm. Acta Helv. 1998;72:301-305.
24. Silva SD, Sato A, Lage CL, Gil S, da Silva RA, Azevedo DD, Esquibel MA. Essential oil composition of Melissa officinalis L. in vitro produced under the influence of growth regulators. J Brazil Chem Soc. 2005;16:1387-1390.
25. Turgut K, Tütüncü B, Uçar E, Özyiğit Y. The chemical composition of essential oils of Melissa officinalis subsp. altissima from Turkey. SDU J Facult Agri/SDÜ Ziraat Fakültesi Dergisi. 2016;11:141-145.
26. Alagawany M, El-Hack ME, Farag MR, Gopi M, Karthik K, Malik YS, Dhama K. Rosmarinic acid: Modes of action, medicinal values and health benefits. Anim. Health Res. Rev. 2017;18:167-176.
27. Council of Europe. European Pharmacopoeia (7), Council of Europe Pub. 2009.
28. Kittler J, Krüger H, Ulrich D, Zeiger B, Schütze W, Böttcher C, Krähmer A, Gudi G, Kästner U, Heuberger H, Marthe F. Content and composition of essential oil and content of rosmarinic acid in lemon balm and balm genotypes (Melissa officinalis). Genet Resour Crop Evol. 2018;65:1517-1527.
29. Caniova A, Brandsteterova E. HPLC analysis of phenolic acids in Melissa officinalis. J Liq Chromatogr Relat Technol. 2001;24:2647-2659.
30. Shekarchi M, Hajimehdipoor H, Saeidnia S, Gohari AR, Hamedani MP. Comparative study of rosmarinic acid content in some plants of Labiatae family. Pharmacogn. Mag. 2012;8:37.
31. Ibragić S, Salihović M, Tahirović I, Toromanović J. Quantification of some phenolic acids in the leaves of Melissa officinalis L. from Turkey and Bosnia. Bull. Chem. Tech. Bosnia Herzegovina. 2014;42:47-50.
Journal of Medicinal plants and By-Products
Volume 9, Issue 2
September 2020
Pages 159-166

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics