Avaliação da atividade anti-inflamatória do óleo essencial de Citrus latifolia Tanaka e limoneno em modelos experimentaiis em camundongos

Abstract

The genus Citrus (Rutaceae) includes several species of plants producing some of most cultivated fruits in the world, which present an appreciable content of essential oil. In folk medicine they are used as digestive, tonic, antipyretic, cholagogue, anti-inflammatory, sedative and antitoxic. Lemon essential oil, since ancient times it is used as antiseptic, carminative, diurétic and eupeptic. In essential oils of plants of the genus Citrus have as constituents monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, whereas limonene (LIM) is the main compound. This study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory activity of Citrus latifolia Tanaka essential oils (CLEO) and its main constituent LIM. In the cell viability assay the CLEO and LIM showed low cytotoxicity. In zymosan-induced peritonitis LIM present an reduced infiltration of leukocytes peritoneal exudate and decrease in the number of polymorphonuclear leukocytes, in in vitro chemotaxis CLEO and LIM promoted a significant reduction in the neutrophils migration toward fMLP and LTB4. In addition, LIM reduced the TNF-? levels but not alter IL-10 levels in the peritoneal exudate. In conclusion our studies indicated that CLEO and LIM have anti-inflammatory activity, probably inhibiting inflammatory mediators present in the inflammatory exudate and leukocytes chemotaxis. Further studies are needed to elucidate the anti-inflammatory mechanism of these drugs.