Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Essential Oils: A Short Review

Miguel, Maria Graça

As reported for the DPPH method, there are also some authors that only used the ABTS method for evaluating the antioxidant activity of essential oils [75, 76] . Ennajar et al. (2010) [75] studied the influence of organ, season and drying method on chemical composition and the ABTS-scavenging ability of Juniperus phoeniceae L.. They found the highest and the lowest activities in the same part of the plant (berries). Considering the drying method used, oven-drying was the best method to obtain an important activity for leaf and berry oils, followed by sun-dried essential oils and shade-dried samples. Such variability seemed to be related to the chemical composition of the oils, wich having a similar profile, the main components were present in different proportions (α-pinene, δ-3-carene, α-terpineol, β-myrcene, among other components). Rosa canina L. also possessed capacity for scavenging ABTS, nevertheless the harvesting place was determinant in such activity, which seemed to be related to the presence of high percentages of vitispirane [76] .