摘要
Satureja thymbra was used as a spice in Anatolia and Greece. The essential oil and the methanol extract of Satureja thymbra were evaluated for cholinesterase inhibitory effects against acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase which are the chief enzymes of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. The antioxidative effects of the essential oil and the extract were also determined by using 尾-carotene-linoleic acid, DPPH鈥?/sup>-scavenging, ABTS鈥?-scavenging, and CUPRAC assays. The GC and GC-MS analyses of the essential oil afforded twenty-five compounds. The identified main compounds of the essential oil, carvacrol (34.6%), 纬-terpinene (22.9%), p-cymene (13.0%) and thymol (12.8%) were also tested in the same manner. The experimental findings indicated that the compounds, except p-cymene, were active in both activity tests. Moreover, the extract (IC50:13.1 卤 0.23 渭g/ml), the oil (IC50:26.7 卤 0.56 渭g/ml) and 纬-terpinene (IC50:11.9 卤 0.21 渭g/ml) exhibited a good lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity. In addition, the possible mechanism of lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity of 纬-terpinene was also discussed.