Assessment of Chemical Constituents of <i>Allium sativum</i> Essential Oil Extracted by using Hydrodistillation Technique and their Pharmacological Potential

Abstract

The current study was based on identification of chemical components and pharmacological potential of Allium sativum essential oil. The pharmacological properties mainly antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic potential of Allium sativum Essential Oil (ASEO) were also studied. Allium sativum is a traditional medicinal plant of the Alliaceae family. The extracted essential oil from fresh bulbs of Allium sativum through hydro distillation process was further analyzed by GC-MS. To determine the potential of Allium sativum essential oil for reducing inflammation and preventing diabetes, evaluation of antioxidant assays, protein denaturation and glucose absorption by yeast cells were studied. The results explained the presence of several organosulfur compounds that were identified by using different combinations of non-polar solvents mainly represented as Diallyldisulfide, Methyl Allyl Disulfide, Methyl Allyl Trisulfide, Diallyltrisulfide and Diallyltetrasulfide. The antioxidant potential of ASEO expressed as IC50 values of DPPH, ABTS, β-carotene assay, Nitric Oxide, superoxide, hydroxyl scavenging and metal chelating were 5.93 mg/ml, 2.1 mg/ml, 7.94 mg/ml, 5.49 μg/ml, 11.55 μg/ml, 7.66 μg/ml and 10.60 μg/ ml respectively. Further, total phenolic level, total flavonoid level, FRAP assay and total antioxidant capacity were evaluated and they were as follows: 4.99 ± 0.41 mg GAE/g, 98.46 ± 0.16 mg QE/g, 4.99 ± 0.26 mg/g and 15.80 ± 0.14 mg/g. Furthermore, the anti-inflammatory assay was assessed by considering the protein denaturation method which exhibits IC50 value 3.53μg/ml. In addition to this, anti-diabetic potential was assessed by considering glucose absorption by yeast cells at various glucose concentrations (5mM, 10mM, 25mM) which indicated that the ASEO enhanced glucose uptake via the yeast cell membrane. Upregulation of glucose was reported with sequential elevations in the ASEO concentration. Based on the above results, it was revealed that Allium sativum essential oil exhibits reasonable antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic activity that could be considered as an alternative therapeutic agent in inflammatory diseases. However, future research is required to isolate prominent functional components to determine the observed potential in preclinical studies.