PARTE UTILIZADA= Used part: Inflorescencia, hojas.

ACCION FARMACOLOGICA= Pharmacological action: Carminativo, diaforético.

COMPOSICIÓN QUÍMICA= Chemical composition: Ocimum selloii Benth (Lamiaceae) grows in the south and southwest of Brazil and produces essential oil. This plant is used in the folk medicine and presents medicinal properties as confirmed in pre-clinical tests. The aim of this work was to evaluate the influence of two levels of solar radiation on the production and composition of essential oil of O. selloi. Plants obtained from seeds of a specimen collected in Nova Friburgo (RJ), and cultivated in Viçosa, were grown under full solar radiation and 50 % shady. The oil was extracted by hydrodistillation and analysed by cromatography in its gas fase and mass espectrometry. The oil content and the percentage of estragole and anethole, the major compounds present in the oil, did not vary with the solar radiation intensity. During the oil extraction a partial conversion of estragole in anetole was observed.

ZONA GEOGRAFICA= Geografical zone: Brasil, Uruguay y NE de Argentina. 

DIVERSIDAD GENÉTICA Y MEJORAMIENTO DE PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants and improvement of medicinal herbs:

Chem. compn. anal. of the essential oil from the leaves and flowers of 2 accessions of O. selloi Benth, cultivated at the Federal University of Vicosa was carried out.  For accession A, the major component was identified as estragole and represented 94.95 and 92.54% of the oil from the leaves and flowers resp.  For accession B, the oil from the leaves and flowers was constituted by 65.49 and 66.18% of methyleugenol, resp.  For both accessions, several minor constituents were also identified.  The phenotypic and chem. differences obsd. between these 2 accessions suggest the existence of 2 chem. distinct varieties for O. selloi Benth.  

ÚLTIMOS AVANCES EN LA QUÍMICA Y ACTIVIDADES BACTERIOLÓGICAS EN LAS PLANTAS MEDICINALES= Medicinal plants, last advances on chemistry and bacteria activities on the medicinal herbs

1) Ocimum selloi essential oil (2, 20, and 200 mg/kg; p.o.) reduced, in a dose-dependent way, the abdominal contraction induced by acetic acid (0.6%; i.p.) and the diarrhea episodes induced by castor oil in mice.  At the higher dose (200 mg/kg; p.o.), the essential oil significantly reduced intestinal transit (P < 0.05) in the charcoal meal test.  The main component detected in O. selloi essential oil was Me chavicol (98%; GC and GC/MS).These effects seems to support the use of O. selloi against diarrhea, intestinal spasm and visceral pain

2) Ocimum spp. (Lamiaceae) and their essential oils have been traditionally used to kill or repel insects, and also to flavor foods and oral products, in fragrances, in folk medicine and as condiments.  In Brazil, Ocimum selloi has been used to treat stomachaches and as an anti-inflammatory remedy.  This study was performed to provide data on the chem. compn., acute toxicity, mutagenicity, skin irritant potential and mosquito repellency of Ocimum selloi oil.  GC/MS anal. of Ocimum selloi oil revealed that its major constituents were methyl-chavicol or estragole (55.3%), trans-anethole (34.2%), cis-anethole (3.9%) and caryophyllene (2.1%).  Ocimum selloi oil given by gavage to adult Swiss Webster mice produced no adverse effects at doses as high as 1250 mg/kg body wt.  Deaths and symptoms (e.g. hypoactivity, ataxia and lethargy) were obsd. at doses ³1500 mg/kg body wt., being females apparently more susceptible than males.  Genotoxicity of Ocimum selloi oil was evaluated in the Salmonella/microsome assay without and with S9 mixt.  The oil, tested up to the toxicity limit (500-700 mg/plate), was not mutagenic to tester strains TA97a, TA98 and TA100.  None of 30 volunteers of either sex exposed to undiluted Ocimum selloi oil (4-h patch test) showed a pos. skin irritant reaction.  A field test (six volunteers, each individual his/her own control) was carried out to evaluate mosquito (Anopheles braziliensis) repellency of Ocimum selloi oil dild. in ethanol (10% vol./vol.).  The median no. of mosquito bites on volunteers' skin-recorded for 30 min after application of Ocimum selloi oil (2, range 0-3) was much lower than that noted after application of the solvent alone (19.5, 3-25) (Wilcoxon test, P<0.01).  In conclusion, results showed that Ocimum selloi oil is an effective mosquito repellent that presents a low acute toxicity, poses no mutagenic risk and seems not to be irritating to human skin.

1) TOURSARKISSIAN, Martín. Plantas medicinales de Argentina : sus nombres botánicos, vulgares, usos y distribución geográfica. Buenos Aires : Hemisferio Sur, 1980, pp.63-64.

2) GONCALVES, L.A., et al. Production and Composition of Essential Oil of "Alfavaquinha" (Ocimum selloi Benth.) in Response to Two Levels of Solar Radiation | Revista Brasileira de Plantas Medicinais. 2003, vol.6, nº1, p.8-14.
 
3) MARTINS, Ernane R., et al. Essential oil in the taxonomy of  Ocimum   selloi  Benth.  Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society. 1997, vol.8, nº1, p.29-32.
 
4) FRANCA, Carolina S., et al. Analgesic and antidiarrheal properties of Ocimum selloi essential oil in mice. Fitoterapia. 2008, vol.79, nº7-8, p.569-573.
 
5) PADILHA DE PAULA, Josiane, et al. Chemical composition, toxicity and mosquito repellency of Ocimum selloi oil.   Journal of Ethnopharmacology.2003 , vol.88, nº2-3, p.253-260.