Effect of the Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E. Brown essential oil and its main constituents, citral and limonene, on the tracheal smooth muscle of rats

Poliana M M Carvalho; Cícero A F Macêdo; Tiago F Ribeiro; Andressa A Silva; Renata E R Da Silva; Luís P de Morais; Marta R Kerntopf; Irwin R A Menezes; Roseli Barbosa

doi:10.1016/j.btre.2017.12.002

Effect of the Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E. Brown essential oil and its main constituents, citral and limonene, on the tracheal smooth muscle of rats

Biotechnol Rep (Amst). 2017 Dec 6:17:31-34. doi: 10.1016/j.btre.2017.12.002. eCollection 2018 Mar.

Authors

Poliana M M Carvalho¹, Cícero A F Macêdo¹, Tiago F Ribeiro¹, Andressa A Silva¹, Renata E R Da Silva¹, Luís P de Morais¹, Marta R Kerntopf², Irwin R A Menezes³, Roseli Barbosa¹

Affiliations

¹ Physiopharmacology of Excitability Cell Laboratory, Department of Chemical Biology Regional University of Cariri, Campus of Pimenta, 63105-010, Crato, CE, Brazil.
² Pharmacology of Natural Products Laboratory, Regional University of Cariri-Campus of Pimenta, 63105-010, Crato, CE, Brazil.
³ Pharmacology and Molecular Chemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemical Biology, Regional University of Cariri-Campus of Pimenta, 63105-010, Crato, CE, Brazil.

Abstract

The Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E. Brown (Verbenaceae) species, has effects sedative, analgesic and spasmolytic properties. This study had as its main objective to evaluate the essential oil of L. alba (EOLa) effect and that of its main constituents, citral and limonene, over tracheal smooth muscle from Wistar rats. EOLa, citral and limonene promoted relaxation of tracheal smooth muscle in contractions induced by potassium (60 mM K⁺), presenting an EC₅₀ of 148 ± 7 μg/mL for the EOLa, 136 ± 7 μg/mL for citral and 581 ± 7 μg/mL for limonene. In contractions induced by Acetylcholine (Ach; 10 μM) the EC₅₀ for the EOLa and citral were of 731 ± 5 μg/mL and 795 ± 9 μg/mL, respectively. In preparations pre-incubated with 1000 μg/mL of the EOLa and citral, both agents were found to block the influx of BaCl₂ by VOCCs. This study demonstrated that the EOLa and its main component citral present antispasmodic effect over tracheal smooth muscle of rats.

Keywords: Citral; Essential oil; Limonene; Lippia alba; Smooth muscle.