Atividade antioxidante, antimutagênica e antiproliferativa de Origanum vulgare L. (Família Lamiaceae)

Abstract

Chronic diseases are considered a public health problem, all around the world, cancer related research is carried out every day, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world, globally, one in six deaths are related to the disease. In this context, the search for new therapeutic alternatives has been aroused, such as therapies that use medicinal plants since the plants produce a wide spectrum of chemical compounds that have biological activities, and that can be used for the treatment of diseases, including cancer. Origanum vulgare L., popularly known as oregano, belonging to the Lamiaceae family, is of great pharmacological interest because it has several active secondary metabolites. The aim of this study is to report the antioxidant, antimutagenic and antiproliferative activity of O. vulgare L., from January 2010 to August 2020, existing in the literature. A search for scientific articles was carried out in the pubMED databases and CAPES journals with the term “O. vulgare L.”. The bibliographic search resulted in 7,203 articles, of which 32 met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were added to the database of this review. It is possible to notice that O. vulgare has a wide diversity of chemical components, showing its phytotherapeutic potential. The effectiveness of your essential oil depends on the specific toxicity of its main active constituents, and its synergistic effect. Thymol and Carvacrol are terpenoids commonly found in essential oils of the Lamiaceae family, have antiproliferative activity, when combined with other phytochemicals and anti-oxidant compounds. The essential oil of O. vulgare presented a greater quantity of these compounds, where together, they correspond to 37.1%, about 75% of the plant. 29 articles were found that evaluated the antioxidant activity of O. vulgare, where its results ranged from 0.357 μg / mL to 2,605 mmol / g. Regarding antimutagenic and antiproliferative activities, few studies have been carried out in the last 10 years, with only one article reporting antimutagenic activity, and four articles reporting antiproliferative activity. Therefore, it is necessary to study this species more deeply, since certain studies are still scarce, mainly due to the fact that it has proven biological activities, being a potential drug and helping in the search for the treatment of countless existing diseases, such as cancer, with the minimum side effects and affordable cost for everyone.