Topical anti-inflammatory, gastroprotective and antioxidant effects of the essential oil of Lippia sidoides Cham. leaves

Lippia sidoides in Northeastern Brazil is widely used in the social medicine program named "Live Pharmacies" run by the municipal governments of country towns, to help poor people with phytotherapy, performed with local plants that are inexpensive but very effective. This plant is mainly used as a general antiseptic due to its strong action against many microorganisms. In order to evaluate the action spectrum of this plant, pharmacological studies were performed on acute toxicity, topical inflammation and ethanol-induced gastric lesions in mice, using the leaf essential oil (EO) of Lippia sidoides. The topical application of EO at doses of 1 and 10 mg/ear, respectively, significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in 45.93 and 35.26% the acute ear edema induced by 12-otetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA). The gastroprotective effect was demonstrated by oral pretreatment with EO at doses of 10, 50 and 100 mg/kg, which, respectively, significantly inhibited (P < 0.05) by 58.33, 45.83 and 41.66% the damage produced by ethanol, but altered neither the weight nor the protein gastric mucus induced by ethanol administration. This study confirmed the great potential of this plant for medicinal proposals.