A study on the chemical profile of cultivated chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) flower essential oil from North East India with special emphasis on its pharmacological importance.

The Matricaria chamomilla L. popularly known as chamomile is a plant with many medicinal and pharmaceutical values. The essential oil from dried floral part (capitulata) of the plant has unique chemical profile with a lot of commercial value. In this study, fresh Matricaria chamomilla flowers were used for the extraction of essential oils using Clevenger apparatus and chemical composition was investigated through GC/FID and GC/MS analysis. Antimicrobial activity was carried out using disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory (MIC) concentration assay; DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging assays were used for anti-oxidant activity determination, trypsin inhibitory assay for the anti-inflammatory test, standard tyrosinase, alpha-amylase inhibitory assays were also used for other biological activities. For genotoxicity analysis, standard Allium cepa assay was used. Chamomile essential oil (CEO) analysis showed the presence of 8 compounds of which six were major compounds namely α-bisabolol oxide, bisabolol oxide II, α-bisabolonoxide, γ-himachalene, cis-β-farnesene and chamazulene with a significant area percentage of 48.94%, 13.48 %, 12.44%, 8.58%, 5.7% and 3.61% respectively. This unique chemical profile which is related to the climatic conditions of North East India impacts other biological activities also. The antimicrobial activity showed the essential oil of M. chamomilla (CEO) was effective against S. griseus (ATCC-10137), fungi A. flavus (ATCC-9643) and F. keratoplasticum (ATCC-36031) following inhibition zones of 16 mm, 20 mm and 19 mm respectively. The antioxidant assay showed that the DPPH assay revealed an IC50 value of 21.95 μL/mL, and the ABTS assay revealed an IC50 value of 23.56 μL/mL. The CEO also possessed antidiabetic activity at 29.88 μL/mL, and acetylcholinesterase showed an IC50 value of 19.20 μL/mL. The CEO showed a mitotic index value of 34.20% where the aberration rate for the CEO was 8.60%. The study was designed and implemented for the first time from Northeast grown M. chamomilla which reveals tremendous potential for pharmacology, clinical and industrial research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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