Citronellol, a monoterpene alcohol with promising pharmacological activities - A systematic review

Abstract

Many diseases, such as inflammatory and central nervous system disorders, currently have a limited number of effective side-effect free treatments. Citronellol (CT) is a monoterpene alcohol present in the essential oil of several plants used in cooking and traditional medicine, such as those of the genus Cymbopogon and Citrus, with pharmacological activities already described in the literature. The aim of this review was to summarize the pharmacological activities already attributed to CT that could be used in treatments for humans. The databases PubMed, MedLine, Scopus, Lilacs and Scielo were searched using the terms "Citronellol" and "Drug effect". 32 articles were identified and used in the study. Twenty-one articles demonstrated CT activities, including antibiotic and antifungal effects in vitro, and 11 properties including analgesic and anticonvulsant effects in vivo, besides presenting low toxicity. In view of the need to discover new drugs and the activities reported for CT, it can be stated that CT is a promising molecule to target in future pharmacological studies.

Chemical composition and antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli of extracts of a common household plant

“…This demonstrates the importance of using both polar and non-polar solvents for the identification of available phytochemicals in a sample. These aforementioned compounds are found in other plants (Knothe et al, 2019, Santos et al, 2019 and are not unique to the A. squarrosa plant. The cyclohexanetetrol identified in the methanol-water preparation potentially functions as an osmotic regulator, as similar chemical structures serve this function in other plants (Garza-Sanchez et al, 2008).…”

Cymbopogon winterianus Essential Oil Attenuates Bleomycin-Induced Pulmonary Fibrosis in a Murine Model

“…Hence, this could explain other major chemical compositions found in EOCW, as the one reported in the Anand region, northeast India, whose main constituents were citronellol (34.25%), linalool (27.47%), citronellal (11.52%), and emelol (11.15%) [ 42 ]. Based on the antioxidant [ 22 , 23 , 24 ], anti-inflammatory [ 19 , 25 ], and antifibrotic [ 26 ] properties of this essential oil, we designed the first study on the potential activity of the EOCW on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in a rodent model. In addition, the doses (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg) were chosen according to the study previously conducted by Leite et al (2011) [ 19 ], using EOCW of the same region, with a similar major chemical composition.…”

“…In fact, geraniol reduces pro-oxidative lipid peroxidation and nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production [ 22 ], whereas citronellal inhibits pro-inflammatory 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) synthesis [ 23 ]. Citronellol inhibits inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression, resulting in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects [ 24 ].…”

In Vitro Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Monoterpenes against some Food-Borne Pathogens

“…Several research studies reported that the monoterpenes exhibited antifungal activity against a wide range of microorganisms (Marchese et al 2016;Santos et al 2018;Teixeira et al 2018;Zhou et al 2019). Thymol, Trans-anethole, menthol, and zingiberene are the major element of essential oils of thyme, fennel, mint, and ginger, respectively.…”