Influence of chemical composition on the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of Rosmarinus officinalis extracts

Inflammation, especially the chronic inflammation, plays an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of major diseases. The aim of this study is to explore the antioxidant-antiinflammatory potential of Rosmarinus officinalis L. extracts with different polyphenol content and obtained by distinct processing methods from the same vegetal material. The two rosemary extracts isolated by acetone maceration (R1) and hydroalcoholic extraction under reflux (R2), contain 3,14% and respectively 8,84% total polyphenols as determined by Folin-Ciocalteu method. Moreover, HPLC analysis proves that R2 extract have a higher content of rosmarinic and ferulic acids. Correlated to higher polyphenol content, R2 extract exerts a good scavenging activitiy on DPPH radical (20-79% at 1-10mg/mL concentrations), inhibits ICAM-1 production on TNF-alpha-stimulated endothelial cells culture and reduces rat paw edema fresh egg-white-induced on the entire experimental period, comparable to acetylsalicylic acid. In contrast, R1 extract show more weaker and shorter effects. As the triterpenic content was found similar for the two extracts, it can be concluded that polyphenols exhibit not only antioxidant effects but also contribute to antiinflamatory activity of rosemary extracts.