Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences

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CHEMICAL, ANTIOXIDANT AND TOXICITY EVALUATION OF ROSEMARY LEAVES AND ITS DRY EXTRACT

CERASELA ELENA GÎRD 1#, IOANA NENCU 1#*, MARIA LIDIA POPESCU 1#, TEODORA COSTEA 1#, LIGIA ELENA DUŢU 1#, TEODORA DALILA BALACI 2#, OCTAVIAN TUDOREL OLARU 3#

“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, 6 Traian Vuia Street, 020956, Bucharest, Romania
1.Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry and Phytotherapy Department
2.Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy Department
3.Pharmaceutical Botany and Cellular Biology Department

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Rosmarinus officinalis L. is an aromatic herb widely used in traditional medicine, cosmetics and gastronomy. The aim of our research was to obtain, chemically characterize, and evaluate the antioxidant activity and cytotoxic properties of an ethanolic dry extract from Romanian Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary) leaves. The flavonoids, phenolcarboxylic acids, total phenol and rosmarinic acid contents of the raw material and of the extract were established using spectrophotometric and HPLC methods. The antioxidant activity of the extract was assessed using two methods (DPPH and ferric reducing assay). The extract contains: 3.22% of flavonoids (expressed as rutin), 34.30% phenolcarboxylic acids (expressed as chlorogenic acid), 31.86% total phenols (expressed as tannic acid) and 3.29% rosmarinic acid. The antioxidant activity of the extract was good (EC50 = 4.63 μg/mL - for DPPH method; EC50 = 63.85 μg/mL - for ferric reducing power). Cytotoxic effects of the extract upon Daphnia magna invertebrate were registered only at very high doses (> 500 μg/mL).