In vitro antioxidant activity of essential oil of aerial parts of Mentha pulegium L

This work was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the essential oil obtained from the aerial part of Mentha pulegium. The antioxidant power of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus was evaluated by using three methods: free radical-scavenging activity, reducing power and liver lipid peroxidation assay. Results showed that Mentha pulegium oil displayed good quality according to its physicochemical characteristics, and a higher yield 5.1 ± 0.2%. The essential oil of Mentha pulegium showed a higher DPPH radical scavenging activity 90.54 ± 1.5 % at a concentration of 1000 µg/mL. This value was close to the results obtained with ascorbic acid 96.23 ± 1.2%, and catechin 94.50 ± 1.4%. This oil exhibited significant potential for reducing iron (the value observed by optical density was 1.8 ± 0.3), while ascorbic acid and catechin provided an OD of 2.069 ± 0.03 and 2.66 ± 0.016 at the same concentration of 1000 µg/mL. The tested oil protected against lipid peroxidation induced by Fe+2, and considerably increased the percentage of anti lipid peroxidation in a dose-dependent manner. The studied oil displayed a good degree of antioxidant activity and can be exploited in food and pharmaceutical industries.