| Popis: |
This paper aims to analyze the medicinal uses of Ocimum basilicum L.var Genovese (basil) in western Algeria and its effectiveness. Materials and Methods: For the experiments, 154 structured questionnaires were collected to list the medicinal uses of basil. The essential oil of O. basilicum (EOB) obtained by hydro-distillation was analyzed by the GC/MS. The ethanolic and aqueous extracts (EEB and AEB) were analyzed by HPLC. The antioxidant activity was measured by DPPH assays and the antimicrobial activity was measured against fiv e microbes. For the in vivo study, Swiss albinos mice were used to determine the toxicity using Lorke’s method. The anti-inflammatory activity was determined using the Carrageenan method. The experimental doses were converted from mice to humans using the Km factor. Results: The ethnobotanical study indicates that local people use basil to treat diseases and health problems (50% for i nflammation and 38.11% for microbial diseases). The results also show that EOB contains 41.3% linalool, whereas ethanolic extract contains benzoic a cid (50.86 mg/g). The IC50 value is 556, 878.7, and 962.3 µg/ml for EOB, EEB, and AEB, respectively. The EOB and AEB inhibit the positive Gram bacteria and yeast; the EEA inhibits the negative Gram. The LD50 is 400, 470, and >5000 mg/kg for AEB, EOB, and EEB respectively. The results of the anti-inflammatory test highlight 76.33, 71.0, and 60.43% inhibition of edema at a 100 mg/kg dose for EOB, AEB, and EEB, respectively. Conclusions: The Algerian basil can be considered as an antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory. |
