Herbal Product Development and Characteristics
Anil K. Sharma, Raj K. Keservani, Surya Prakash Gautam in Herbal Product Development, 2020
The main phytochemicals accountable of their therapeutic uses are borneol, carvacrol, linalool, α-pinene, β-pinene, α-terpinene, and γ-terpinene (García-Beltrán and Esteban, 2016). The implication of one or other will depend on the target disease. Thymol and carvacrol are the most important compounds isolated from this genus (Figure 8.3). There are several studies that associate thymol with antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, respiratory, and digestive disorders, relaxing the soft tissue of the throat and stomach. Carvacrol is also associated with the prevention of neurodegenerative pains, antihepatotoxic, antimutagenic, analgesic, antitumor, and antispasmodic (Friedman, 2014; Talavera-Alemán et al., 2016). Other components with nutraceutical properties are: rosmarinic acid responsible of anti-inflammatory and antiviral activity (Shen et al., 2010), 4-terpineol associated with antibacterial and antitumor effects, and thymoquinone with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. The last one is a molecule which could be used in the future as an alternative against tumors (Begnini et al., 2014).
Metabolism of Terpenoids in Animal Models and Humans
K. Hüsnü Can Başer, Gerhard Buchbauer in Handbook of Essential Oils, 2020
Carvacrol is used as disinfectant and found in high concentrations in the essential oils of, for example, Thymus vulgaris chemotype carvacrol, Origanum vulgare, Majorana hortensis, or Satureja hortensis (Bornscheuer et al., 2014). In rat, only small amounts of unchanged carvacrol were excreted 24 h after oral application. As β-glucuronidase and sulfatase were used for sample preparation before GC analysis, carvacrol might also be excreted as its glucuronide and sulfate, respectively. Both of the aliphatic groups present undergo extensive metabolism, whereas aromatic hydroxylation to 2-hydroxycarvacrol is only a minor important pathway for carvacrol. Further oxidation of 7-hydroxycarvacrol results in isopropylsalicylic acid (Austgulen et al., 1987) (Figure 10.5). Carvacrol is metabolized by recombinant human CYP1A2, CYP2A6 and CYP2B6 (Dong et al., 2012b). An in vitro study with human microsomes demonstrated that recombinant UGT1A9 was mainly responsible for glucuronidation in liver, and rUGT1A7 in intestinal microsomes, forming monoglucuronated metabolites (Dong et al., 2012a).
Monoterpenes Modulating IL-10
Parimelazhagan Thangaraj in Phytomedicine, 2020
Some other monoterpenes were reported earlier for the management of the IL-10, including carvacrol, (S)-cis-verbenol, scrovalentinoside, swertiamarin, perillyl alcohol, p-cymene, and scropolioside A. Carvacrol (5-isopropyl-2-methylphenol) is a phenolic monoterpene found in the essential oil of the family Lamiaceae, which includes the genera Origanum and Thymus (Baser 2008). Previous studies have demonstrated that carvacrol has anti-inflammatory properties (Wagner et al. 1986; Botelho et al. 2008; Landa et al. 2009; Hotta et al. 2010; Guimarães et al. 2012). Lima et al. (2013a) reported the anti-inflammatory effects of carvacrol: evidence for a key role of interleukin-10. In this study, the authors administrated 50 and 100 mg/kg of carvacrol into the mice, which attenuated the paw edema and reduced the IL-1 band prostaglandin E 2, but not TNF-a, local levels. Similarly, carvacrol (100 mg/kg) reduced the COX-2 and IL-1b mRNA expression. The levels of IL-10, an anti-inflammatory cytokine, and the IL-10 mRNA expression in the inflamed paw were enhanced by carvacrol. In fact, IL-10 acts as a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine by suppressing the activation and function of immune cells. Accordingly, a crucial effect of IL-10 is its ability to selectively block the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (Moore et al. 2001), including IL-1β (de Waal Malefyt et al. 1991; Karam et al. 2007). Thus, the authors investigated the possibility that IL-10 production contributes to the anti-inflammatory effect of carvacrol.
Effects of Dietary Phytochemicals on DNA Damage in Cancer Cells
Published in Nutrition and Cancer, 2023
Yang Ye, Ying Ma, Mei Kong, Zhihua Wang, Kang Sun, Fang Li
Carvacrol is a natural phenolic compound present in the essential oils of several plants (eg, thyme, oregano, pepper, and wild bergamot) that exerts various pharmacological effects such as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and antioxidant effects. Carvacrol is a regulator of nerve impulse and the immune response (104). It exerts its anticancer effects by inducing and enhancing ROS production, inducing DNA damage, blocking cell cycle progression, and participating in apoptosis (105). Polyphenols play a dual role against cancer: a low concentration of polyphenols exhibits antioxidant activities, whereas a higher concentration promotes DNA damage. Furthermore, a high concentration of polyphenols alters permeability of the mitochondrial membrane, oxidizes antioxidants, and causes DNA damage (106). Carvacrol enhances DNA damage and inhibits cell proliferation in human gastric adenocarcinoma cells in a concentration-dependent manner, which reveals a significant negative correlation between cell viability and ROS level (26).
Comparative toxicological evaluation of carvacrol, acetylcarvacrol anda fipronil-based pesticide in human blood cells
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2022
Isaac Filipe Moreira Konig, Aline Chaves Reis, Mariana Aparecida Braga, Dirceu De Sousa Melo, Erika Aparecida Oliveira, Elaine Maria Seles Dorneles, Sérgio Scherrer Thomasi, Rafael Neodini Remedio, Silvana Marcussi
Carvacrol and its acetylated derivative present a wide range of biological activities (Damasceno et al.2014, Suntres et al.2015, Marinelli et al.2018). Pesticide activity has also been attributed to these compounds (Tak and Isman 2017, Gonçalves et al.2019). However, these chemicals are not yet constituents of commercial pesticides, to the best of our knowledge. The lack of comparative toxicological studies using these chemicals is likely to be one of the main reasons they are not yet used in agriculture (Pavela and Benelli 2016). In this sense, we decided to compare both chemicals to a fipronil-based commercial pesticide, which is vastly used worldwide (Simon-Delso et al.2015). We employed in our assays human blood cells, which is a highly sensitive toxicity model (Farag and Alagawany 2018), avoiding the use of experimental animals.
Safety and tolerability of carvacrol in healthy subjects: a phase I clinical study
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2021
Vahideh Ghorani, Azam Alavinezhad, Omid Rajabi, Amir Hooshang Mohammadpour, Mohammad Hossein Boskabady
Carvacrol, or cymophenol, C6H3CH3(OH)(C3H7), is found in several aromatic plants (Boskabady and Jalali 2013). Carvacrol is a hydrophobic compound that markedly affects biological membranes. Little is known about carvacrol modes of action. However, some of carvacrol’s bioactivities their underlying mechanisms were revealed by in vitro or in vivo investigations. Results of these studies indicated that carvacrol possess many biological and pharmacological properties, including antibacterial, antifungal, anti-obesity, anti-Alzheimer disease, antispasmodic, antioxidant properties (Belyaev and Demeubaeva 1999, Ben Arfa et al.2006, Behravan et al.2007, Alagawany et al.2015). Moreover, carvacrol improves absorption of nutrients, digestion, and metabolism as well as growth promotion (Alagawany et al.2015).
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