Chemical constituents and anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, and antioxidant activities of Salvia melissiflora Benth. aerial parts

Abstract Chromatographic fractionation of dichloromethane (EDSM) and ethanol (EESM) extracts of Salvia melissiflora Benth. aerial parts led to the identification of five known compounds through analyses of NMR data (1D and 2D), and comparison with literature data: oleanolic acid (1), ursolic acid (2), ent-(5R,9R)-15,16-epoxy-10S-hydroxycerodan-3,13(16),14-triene-17,12S;18,19-diolide (melissiflorine, 3), 7-epi-salvianduline A (4) and rosmarinic acid (5). The anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activity of EESM and EDSM were evaluated in mice. The oral administration of EESM reduced the second phase of formalin-induced nociception, the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced hyperalgesia and the carrageenan-induced edema in mice. The oral administration of EDSM also reduced LPS-induced hyperalgesia without altering motor performance of the animals. The anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive effects are probably related to the presence of compounds 5 and 1, and 2, respectively. The antioxidant activity of the extracts was evaluated using the ORAC method. The EESM extract showed activity (TE relative: 2845.2 µmol TE g− 1), which can be attributed to the major presence, in this extract, of compound 5, which showed an antioxidant capacity comparable to that of caffeic acid.