Background: Essential oils (EOs) and their volatile components (VCs) have varied biological and pharmacological activities, but low solubility and bioavailability hamper their applications, so that inclusion in cyclodextrins (CDs) is likely to improve their physicochemical properties and pharmacological effects.
Objective: The authors conducted a systematic review to evaluate the biological activities and pharmacological applications of essential oils and their volatile components complexed with cyclodextrins.
Methods: The search terms 'Cyxlodextrin', 'Inclusion Complex', 'Volatile oils', 'Essential oil' and 'Volatile components' were used to retrieve articles from the PUBMED, MEDLINE and SCOPUS databases.
Results: A total of 38 articles were identified. A greater efficacy of EOs and their VCs complexed with different CDs types was found in in vitro and preclinical studies when compared to free forms in the various biological activities and animal models of the evaluated pharmacological tests.
Conclusion: This review of selected studies showed that the use of CDs promotes greater solubility, bioavailability and efficacy of EOs and their VCs, thus indicating an interesting alternative for the biotechnological development of new therapeutic formulations.
Keywords: Cyclodextrin; biological activities; essential oils; inclusion complex; pharmacological application; systematic review; volatile oils..
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