Chemical Profile, Antioxidant, Anti-Proliferative, Anticoagulant and Mutagenic Effects of a Hydroalcoholic Extract of Tuscan Rosmarinus officinalis

Abstract

This study aimed to characterize the chemical profile of an ethanolic extract of Tuscan Rosmarinus officinalis (Roex) and to determine its in vitro bioactivity. The content of phenolic and flavonoid compounds, hydroxycinnamic acids and triterpenoids was determined, and high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) analysis revealed that rosmarinic acid and other hydroxycinnamic derivatives were the main constituents of the extract. Roex demonstrated to have both antioxidant activity and the capability to scavenge hydrogen peroxide in a concentration dependent manner. Moreover, NIH3T3 mouse fibroblasts and human breast adenocarcinoma cells MDA-MB-231 viability was influenced by the extract with an IC50 of 2.4 × 10−1 mg/mL and 4.8 × 10−1 mg/mL, respectively. The addition of Roex to the culture medium of both the above cell lines, resulted also in the reduction of cell death after H2O2 pre-treatment. The Ames test demonstrated that Roex was not genotoxic towards both TA98 and TA100 strains, with and without S9 metabolic activation. The extract, by inactivating thrombin, showed to also have an anti-coagulating effect at low concentration values. All these biological activities exerted by Roex are tightly correlated to its phytochemical profile, rich in bioactive compounds.

Antiproliferative Activity of Selected Triterpene Acids from Rosemary on Metastatic Melanoma Cell Line WM-266-4

“…UA is a pentacyclic triterpenoid derived from berries, fruits, leaves, and flowers of medicinal plants, such as R. officinalis [15]. UA has been shown to inhibit tumorigenesis, tumor promotion and suppress angiogenesis.…”

“…Many of them analyzed the antiproliferative and antimetastatic capacity of such compounds against melanoma cell lines [11], [12], [13]. In addition, triterpenoid-derived compounds (including triterpenic acids) isolated from different medicinal plants have been shown to possess significant antiproliferative activity against cancer cell lines with promising selectivity for malignant cells [5], [7], [14], [15]. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) is a medicinal plant that belongs to the Lamiaceae family, native of Mediterranean regions.…”

“…Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) is a medicinal plant that belongs to the Lamiaceae family, native of Mediterranean regions. The phytochemicals present in R. officinalis are rosmarinic acid, camphor, caffeic acid, ursolic acid (UA), betulinic acid (BA), carnosic acid, and carnosol [6], [15]. BA, UA, and oleanolic acid (OA) belong to the group of pentacyclic triterpenes [11], [13].…”

Bioactive Natural Compounds with Antiplatelet and Anticoagulant Activity and Their Potential Role in the Treatment of Thrombotic Disorders

“…It is a rich source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds and can influence blood circulation. Recently, the ethanolic extract of R. officinalis has been shown to have an anticoagulant effect as it can inhibit thrombin activity by prolonging Thrombin Time (TT) for concentration values ranging from 2.4 × 10 −2 to 9.6 × 10 −1 mg of dry extract/mL [ 145 ]. This anticoagulant effect could be due to the triterpenes, ursolic acid and its isomer oleanolic acid, betulinic acid, carnosol and micromeric acid, present in the extracts, which are known for their anti-inflammatory activity [ 146 , 147 , 148 ].…”

The importance of Structural and Functional Analysis of Extracts in Plants

“…Many factors, such as agronomical and processing conditions used in plant cultivation, extraction methods and solvents, may influence the chemical profile of the herbal preparations and, consequently, their pharmacological activities [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. For these reasons, chemical analysis should be always performed on each plant extract in order to correlate the type and the amount of phytochemicals present with its bioactivity so as to better select its specific applications [ 6 ].…”