Anticholinesterase and antioxidant activities of Savoury (Satureja thymbra L.) with identified major terpenes of the essential oil

Satureja thymbra was used as a spice in Anatolia and Greece. The essential oil and the methanol extract of Satureja thymbra were evaluated for cholinesterase inhibitory effects against acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase which are the chief enzymes of Alzheimer's disease. The antioxidative effects of the essential oil and the extract were also determined by using beta-carotene-linoleic acid, DPPH center dot-scavenging, ABTS(center dot+)-scavenging, and CUPRAC assays. The GC and GC-MS analyses of the essential oil afforded twenty-five compounds. The identified main compounds of the essential oil, carvacrol (34.6%), gamma-terpinene (22.9%), p-cymene (13.0%) and thymol (12.8%) were also tested in the same manner. The experimental findings indicated that the compounds, except p-cymene, were active in both activity tests. Moreover, the extract (IC50:13.1 +/- 0.231 mu g/ml), the oil (IC50:26.7 +/- 0.56 mu g/ml) and gamma-terpinene (IC50:11.9 +/- 0.21 mu g/ml) exhibited a good lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity. In addition, the possible mechanism of lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity of gamma-terpinene was also discussed. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.