INVESTIGATION OF ANTIOXIDANT, ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITIES AND DETERMINATION OF VOLATILE COMPOUNDS OF ALGERIAN Cymbopogon Citratus ESSENTIAL OIL.

Although synthetic antioxidant and anti-inflammatory drugs have been routinely applied for health therapy, the recently available data reported their considerable effects on consumers 'health. Hence, the natural substances derived from medicinal plants exhibiting effective antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties are currently of great interest in the research areas. The purpose of the present study was therefore aimed to analyze the chemical composition and evaluate the antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties of the essential oil of Algerian lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus). The essential oil was extracted by hydro distillation, and their-chemical profiling was performed by gas chromatography coupled with the mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by three methods namely, DPPH (2, 2-diphenyl-1-pic-rylhydrazyl), phenanthroline test, and FRAP (ferric reducing antioxidant power), while the anti-inflammatory activity was estimated by the method of protein denaturation. Results showed that geranial (28.93%), neral (24.30%), and ß -myrcene (23.92%) are the major compounds of essential oil of C. Citra-tus, which in turn revealed an important antiradical activity (IC50 = 163.12% pg/ml) compared to that of the reference antioxidants. Further, the antioxidant activity of Cymbopogon citratus essential oils using phenanthroline and FRAP tests showed a significant EC50 (7.80 ± 1.42) activity and a reducing power ability with an EC50 = 106.78 ± 7.35 pg/ml, in addition to a very significant anti-inflammatory activity with an inhibition percentage of 78.15% compared to that of Diclofenac sodium (96.42%). This result indicate that this plant should be explored in future pharmacological approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]