Antimutagenic and antioxidant potentials of Teucrium ramosissimum essential oil.

The mutagenic and antimutagenic effects of the essential oil extracted from the aerial parts of Teucrium ramosissimum were evaluated by the bacterial reverse mutation assay in Salmonella typhimurium TA98, TA100, and TA1535, with and without exogenous metabolic activation (S9 fraction). The T. ramosissimum essential oil showed no mutagenic effect. In contrast, our results established that it possessed antimutagenic effects against sodium azide (SA), aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), and 4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine (NOPD). The antioxidant capacity of the tested essential oil was evaluated using enzymatic, i.e., the xanthine/xanthine oxidase (X/XOD) assay, and nonenzymatic systems, i.e., the nitro-blue tetrazolium (NBT)/riboflavin and the DPPH assays. A moderate free radical-scavenging activity was observed towards DPPH(.) and O2(.-). In contrast, T. ramosissimum essential oil showed no effect for all the tested concentrations in the X/XOD assay.