مشخصات پژوهش

The genus Ziziphora belongs to Lamiaceae family being known as an aromatic medicinal plant. The Lamiaceae family has several species which are of great importance in pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industry, as well as in traditional and modern medicine [1]. Ziziphora tenuior of this genus has been used extensively from ancient time until the now as folk medicines as well as herb in cooking. This plant is often used as remedy in Iranian folk medicine against various diseases such as insomnia, hypertension palpitations, sedative, infections, gastrointestinal problems, stomachic, and dysentery. Moreovor, it has been used as an cold treatment, carminative, analgesic, and to reduce fever and oedema [2, 3]. In this study, the essential oil of the aerial flowering organs of wild Ziziphora tenuior, collected from Northwest of Iran, was obtained by hydrodistillation method and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and then the antioxidant potential was studied using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. In total, 14 compounds (comprising 96.4 % of total essential oil) were identified, which the main identified compounds were pulegone and limonene. The antioxidant study showeh that the essential oil had antioxidant activity with IC50 walue of 84.3 µg/mL, and it can be due to the presence of monoterpenes such as pulegone and limonene, and several sesquiterpenes, and it is assumed that the contribution of minor and major compounds exhibited this activity and not only one or few active molecules.