Variations in Essential Oil Yield, Composition, and Antioxidant Activity of Different Plant Organs from Blumea balsamifera (L.) DC. at Different Growth Times

Abstract

Blumea balsamifera, also named Ainaxiang, is widely used as an ancient medicinal herb in tropical and subtropical Asia. It is rich in essential oils. In this work the essential oils of B. balsamifera from different plant organs and in different months were extracted, and then analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results showed that essential oil yield of young leaves was the highest (0.65 mL/100 g), followed by mature leaves (0.57 mL/100 g), and the oil yield was higher in October (0.47 mL/100 g) than other months. A total of 44 compounds were identified, representing 92.64%-96.71% of the oil. Eighteen common chemical components were found among the six plant organs, representing >80% of the oil constituents. l-borneol was the main ingredient in leaves, and its content was the highest in senescent leaves and in December. In the essential oils of young shoots and young stems, the main component was dimethoxydurene. Antioxidant activity was also determined using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and β-carotene bleaching (BCB) assays. The results indicated that the β-carotene bleaching activity was far stronger than the DPPH radical-scavenging capacity, and the young leaves and young shoots showed stronger antioxidant activity. Dimethoxydurene, β-caryophyllene, and α-caryophyllene play a positive role in good antioxidant activity, while β-eudesmol, phytol, and tetradecanal play a negative role. The antioxidant activity revealed in this study might help in developing this promising bioresource for use in the medicinal and cosmetic industries.

Variations in compositions and antioxidant activities of essential oils from leaves of Luodian Blumea balsamifera from different harvest times in China

“…It indicated that the ACs of EOs from the leaves of B. balsamifera growing from October to December were at a high level. This observation is consistent with previous studies [13]. The joint interpretation of PCA of chemical components and AC tests presented that the AC of EO from B. balsamifera was highly correlated with the chemical composition of EO.…”

“…Besides, the crude extracts, flavonoids, sesquiterpenoids, and triterpenoids were extracted from the leaves of B. balsamifera [7][8][9][10][11][12]. B. balsamifera, also named Ainaxiang, harvested from Yunnan and Hainan Province, China, had been used to extracted EOs using hydrodistillation according to the method noted in Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China, and the compositions and antioxidant activities of EOs of different plant organs from B. balsamifera at different growth times were analysed and evaluated [13]. As is well known, the same species of plants cultivated in different regions have great differences in chemical composition [14].…”

Antioxidant effect of aromatic volatiles emitted by Lavandula dentata, Mentha spicata, and M. piperita on mouse subjected to low oxygen condition

“…15) The essential oils of young leaves and shoots of Blumea balsamifera have been shown to have strong antioxidant activities, which are mainly imparted by dimethoxydruene, α-caryophyllene, and β-caryophyllene. 16) Sun et al have also found that the essential oil…”

Traditional Asian Herbs in Skin Whitening: The Current Development and Limitations

“…What is more, a clinical study reported that polypodium leucotomos extract treatment is safe and effective for melasma patients (Goh et al, 2018). As we all know, growing conditions (soil, water, climate), growth time, and harvest time have great impacts on herbs in cultivation (Yuan et al, 2016;Olennikov et al, 2017;Zhang et al, 2017). These factors will subsequently influence the components of herbal extracts, so do their effects (Bent and Ko, 2004).…”