title: Antioxidant activity of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) essential oil and its hepatoprotective potential.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Natural antioxidant products are increasingly being used to treat various pathological liver conditions considering the role of oxidative stress in their pathogenesis. Rosemary essential oil has already being used as a preservative in food industry due to its antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, but it was shown to possess additional health benefits. The aim of our study was to evaluate the protective effect of rosemary essential oil on carbon tetrachloride - induced liver injury in rats and to explore whether its mechanism of action is associated with modulation of hepatic oxidative status.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chemical composition of isolated rosemary essential oil was determined by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Antioxidant activity was determined in vitro using DPPH assay. Activities of enzyme markers of hepatocellular damage in serum and antioxidant enzymes in the liver homogenates were measured using the kinetic spectrophotometric methods.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this research, we identified 29 chemical compounds of the studied rosemary essential oil, and the main constituents were 1,8-cineole (43.77%), camphor (12.53%), and α-pinene (11.51%). Investigated essential oil was found to exert hepatoprotective effects in the doses of 5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg by diminishing AST and ALT activities up to 2-fold in serum of rats with carbon tetrachloride-induced acute liver damage. Rosemary essential oil prevented carbon tetrachloride-induced increase of lipid peroxidation in liver homogenates. Furthermore, pre-treatment with studied essential oil during 7 days significantly reversed the activities of antioxidant enzymes catalase, peroxidase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase in liver homogenates, especially in the dose of 10 mg/kg.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrate that rosemary essential oil, beside exhibiting free radical scavenging activity determined by DPPH assay, mediates its hepatoprotective effects also through activation of physiological defense mechanisms.
authors.forename: Aleksandar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rašković
authors.forename: Isidora
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Milanović
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Hajduk Veljkova 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia. nebojsa.pavlovic@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Nebojša
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pavlović
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ćebović
authors.forename: Saša
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vukmirović
authors.forename: Momir
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mikov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002251:Carbon Tetrachloride / Q000633:toxicity; D056486:Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation / Q000187:drug effects; D008099:Liver / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D027542:Rosmarinus / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010936:Plant Extracts; C053775:rosemary oil; D002251:Carbon Tetrachloride