Chemical composition and pharmacological evaluation of essential oil from jasminum officinale flowers for spasmolytic and vasodilator activities

Abstract

The current study was undertaken to investigate the Jasminum officinale essential oil (Jo. Eoil) for its composition through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and pharmacological effects on rabbit jejunum and aorta. Antispasmodic activity was performed on isolated rabbit jejunum while the vasorelaxant effect was studied on rabbit aortic rings using Powerlab data acquisition system. GC-MS analysis indicated 15 constituents in Jo. Eoil. In isolated rabbit jejunum, Jo. Eoil exhibited relaxant effect against spontaneous and high concentration K+ (80 mM)-induced contractions with respective median effective concentration of 1.58 mg/mL (1.0-2.16) and 1.18 mg/mL (1-1.36), suggesting Ca++ channel blockade (CCB) effect. This CCB activity of Jo. Eoil was authenticated by the pre-treatment of the jejunal tissue with Jo. Eoil in calcium free medium, which induced a shift towards right in the concentration response curves for calcium in a similar fashion to verapamil. In isolated aortic rings, cumulative addition of Jo. Eoil caused vascular relaxation against K+ (80 mM) and phenylephrine (PE) induced vasocontractions, with respective median effective concentration of 5.39 mg/mL (5.00-5.78) and 7.04 (5.00-9.08), similar to verapamil. The current study provides a scientific rationale to folkloric uses of J. officinale in gastric and possibly cardiovascular conditions.