Chemical profile of Nepeta cataria L. var. citriodora (Becker) essential oil and in vitro evaluation of biological activities

Abstract

Essential oil (EO) obtained by hydrodistillation in a Clevenger-type apparatus from aerial parts of Nepeta cataria L. var. citriodora (Becker), cultivated in Serbia was subjected to gas chromatography-mass spec-troscopy (GC-MS) to determine the composition. Furthermore, N. cataria var. citriodora essential oil was tested to determine its antimicrobial, antioxidant, antihyperglycemic and anti-inflammatory activities in vi-tro. The antimicrobial activity was tested by broth microdilution method against 16 bacterial strains from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). Four common tests for measuring in vitro antioxidant activity were used: 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl assay (DPPH), reducing power (RP), 2,2-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzo-thiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) and β-carotene bleaching assay (BCB). Antihyperglycemic activity was examined by using α-glucosidase inhibitory potential (AHgA), while anti-inflammatory activity (AIA) was determined by protein denaturation bioassay, using egg albumin. In total, 36 compounds were isolated and detected by GC-MS technique in N. cataria var. citriodora EO. The EO is mainly comprised of oxygenated monoterpenes (93.1%), and the main compounds were two monoterpenoid alcohols, nerol (38.5%) and gera-niol (24.9%), followed by two aliphatic aldehyde, geranial (14.6%) and neral (11.0%). Antimicrobial activity of this EO shows growth inhibition of all tested bacteria strains, and exhibited good antioxidant, antihyper-glycemic and anti-inflammatory activities. The EO obtained from N. cataria var. citriodora grown in Serbia shows valuable biological activity, indicating its potential for use as a supplement in everyday diet and asa natural preservative in food industry.