Study of the toxicity of the essential oil of Brocchia cinerea.

Brocchia cinerea is a North African plant belonging to the Asteraceae family, widely utilized in Algerian folk medicine to treat a variety of illnesses. These therapeutic virtues are mainly due to the plant essential oil. The chemical components of this oil were identified using GC-MS, and the variability in these components' levels was examined in nine samples that were taken at different times from two locations in Algeria's northern Sahara. The contents of the essential oil were found to consist of eight components, varying in concentrations: beta-thujone (46.80%), 1-Methyl-2-(1' methylethenyl) -3'- ethenylcyclopropylmethanol (14.59%), 1,8-Cineole (12.63%), limonen-10-ol (9.47%), 1(7),3,8 o Menthatriene (3.45%), and (-)-Camphor (2.11%). Toxicity studies were conducted in order to assess the safety of the essential oil, namely: LD50 estimation and biochemical blood parameters evaluation. The results showed an LD 50 of 507.5mg/kg close to the LD50 of Beta-thujone (442mg/kg) : the main component of the essential oil, making it accountable for the major toxicity. The apparition of seizures as toxic manifestations for higher concentrations confirmed that. The essential oil of Brocchia was noted to be classified as slightly, weakly toxic, and the Beta-thujone contents showed to be within the regulatory accepted values, which makes the use of Brocchia safe within the indicated standards.

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