Phytochemical Profiling and Wound Healing Properties of Essential Oil Isolated from Rosmarinus officinalis Aerial Parts: GC/MS Analysis and In-Vitro Studies

Abstract

Owing to the new applications of natural oils in various skin care formulations, this research gives a view on the use of rosemary essential oil (EO) as antioxidant and antiaging agents and examines its wound healing ability. Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis was performed for rosemary EO obtained from two different forms (fresh and dry) and prepared by two different extraction methods (hydro-distillation and solvent extraction using non-polar solvent). In vitro antioxidant using the Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) assay and in-vitro antiaging activity that involves assaying the hyaluronidase, collagenase, elastase and tyrosinase inhibitions for the isolated EOs along with chemometric analysis. The results revealed the presence of various classes of volatile compounds with different percentages. Besides that, a chemometric analysis based on the GC/MS profile revealed the great similarity between both fresh and dry rosemary EO obtained by hydro-distillation method in contrast to that obtained by solvent extraction. The antioxidant assay showed potent activity of both fresh and dry rosemary EO obtained by solvent extraction equivalent to 208.12 ±20.02 and 27.56 ±1.02 μM Trolox eq/mg sample respectively. However, those obtained by hydro-distillation showed much lower activity with no significant differences. The rosemary EOs obtained through hydrodistillation from both fresh and dried samples showed higher efficacy in the in vitro antiaging assays. In addition, evaluation of the cytotoxicity and the in-vitro scratch assay using Human Skin Fibroblasts (HSF) cells was applied to assess the wound-healing activity. All rosemary essential oils exhibited no cytotoxic activity, however, rosemary EOs extracted by hydro-distillation displayed wound-healing potential more than those prepared by hexane extraction. The results proved the promising use of rosemary EO in skincare formulations due to its multifaceted beneficial properties and considered it as a good candidate for the management of age-related conditions such as skin wrinkles.