Essential Oil From Leaf Galls on Pistacia chinensis ssp integerrima: Chemical Composition, In Vitro and In Vivo Antioxidant and Hepatoprotective Activity

The present study reports hitherto unknown in vitro antioxidant and in vivo hepatoprotective activity of essential oil from leaf galls on Pistacia chinensis ssp. integerrima. The identification of 29 compounds comprising 99 % of essential oil was done by GC-MS analysis. The major components of essential oil were found to be a-pinene, terpinene-4-ol, beta-pinene, Delta(3)-carene, limonene, gamma-terpinene, and alpha-terpineol. It exhibited remarkable photochemiluminescence inhibition, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and 2,2-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) radical scavenging activity and inhibited lipid perioxidation with IC50 values 118.4 +/- 1.89 and 103.5 +/- 2.67 mu g/mL, respectively. Treatment of mice with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) resulted in significant changes in the biochemical parameters. Pretreatment of essential oil to mice at doses 0.1 and 0.2 mL/kg significantly (p< 0.001) decreased the elevation of biochemical parameters and the effects were comparable with standard drug 'Silymarin'. Decreased necrotic zones and lymphocyte infiltration were observed in liver sections of mice treated with the essential oil. This is first report of essential oil of P. chinensis ssp. integerrima preventing CCl4 induced damage in mice liver.