Chemical profile, antioxidant and photoprotective activities of essential oil and crude extracts of Algerian Thymus serpyllum

Abstract

Thymus serpyllum is an aromatic and medicinal plant widely used in Algerian folk medicine. It was collected from Mascara region North West of Algeria and studied in the aim to provide more knowledge about chemical composition, antioxidant and photo-protective activities of essential oil, ethanolic and infusion extracts. The chemical analysis of investigated T. serpyllum EO was performed for the first time in this research work. It was carried out by GC/MS for identifying 25 components where the dominated compounds were Carvacrol (66%) and γ–Terpinene (11.5%). The phenolic profile of ethanolic and aqueous infusion extracts was performed using HPLC chromatography and the data showed the Benzoic acid and Rosmarinc acid were found as major compounds. Extracts showed an excellent source of total phenols and flavonoids. Antioxidant activity was evaluated using DPPH, Galvinoxyl radical (GOR), CUPRAC, reducing power and O-phenanthroline approaches. All extracts showed a significant antioxidant capacity with different mechanisms. However, ethanol and infusion extracts showed stronger capacity than EO. Moreover, the photoprotective activity of T. serpyllum extracts was explored for the first time in our study. Extracts exhibited high values of sun protective factors (SFP) with 38.34±2.29 and 38.82±2.23 for ethanol and infusion extract respectively. Results of our study may encourage the pharmacologic, food and cosmetic sectors to use the wild thyme as natural and healthy source of active compounds.

Green Extraction Approach for Isolation of Bioactive Compounds in Wild Thyme (Thymus serpyllum L.) Herbal Dust—Chemical Profile, Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity and Comparison with Conventional Techniques

“…Carvacrol (14.94%), α-pinene (12.2%) and thymol (7.39%) were the major terpenes in T. serpyllum, with an EO yield of 1.2 ± 0.8%, which was in accordance with the present data. Furthermore, similar results were reported from T. serpyllum EO from the Mascara region [6]. The obtained EO yield rich in carvacrol (66%), γ-terpinene (11.5%), thymol (7.5%) and p-cymene (3.9%) was 5.66%, which is higher than the Y obtained in this work.…”

“…Additionally, wild thyme has been used for centuries in traditional medicine, where its most common application was to treat health problems related to respiratory and gastrointestinal systems [ 5 ]. It may be used as a substitution for synthetic antioxidants to treat pathological conditions caused by free radicals but also as a substitution for synthetic additives in the food industry for the purpose of reducing food deterioration and extending the product’s shelf-life [ 6 , 7 ]. In order to isolate bioactive compounds from the herb, several conventional and novel extraction techniques have been used.…”

Wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum L.): a review of the current evidence of nutritional and preventive health benefits*

“…The ethanolic and infusion extract of T. serpyllum were also looked at for its skin protective (photoprotective) activities, and it was the extract exhibited high values of Sun Protective Factors (SPF) with 38.34 ± 2.29 and 38.82 ± 2.23 for ethanol and infusion extract, respectively. These results suggest a potential use of T. serpyllum as a source of bioactive compounds with skin-protective properties ( 117 , 128 ) (for more details, see Supplementary Table S2 ).…”