Medicinal applications, chemical compositions, and biological effects of an algerian ocimum basilicum L.var genovese; with the conversion of experimental doses to humans

This paper aims to analyze the medicinal uses of Ocimum basilicum L.var Genovese (basil) in western Algeria and its effectiveness. Materials and Methods: For the experiments, 154 structured questionnaires were collected to list the medicinal uses of basil. The essential oil of O. basilicum (EOB) obtained by hydro-distillation was analyzed by the GC/MS. The ethanolic and aqueous extracts (EEB and AEB) were analyzed by HPLC. The antioxidant activity was measured by DPPH assays and the antimicrobial activity was measured against fiv e microbes. For the in vivo study, Swiss albinos mice were used to determine the toxicity using Lorke’s method. The anti-inflammatory activity was determined using the Carrageenan method. The experimental doses were converted from mice to humans using the Km factor. Results: The ethnobotanical study indicates that local people use basil to treat diseases and health problems (50% for i nflammation and 38.11% for microbial diseases). The results also show that EOB contains 41.3% linalool, whereas ethanolic extract contains benzoic a cid (50.86 mg/g). The IC50 value is 556, 878.7, and 962.3 µg/ml for EOB, EEB, and AEB, respectively. The EOB and AEB inhibit the positive Gram bacteria and yeast; the EEA inhibits the negative Gram. The LD50 is 400, 470, and >5000 mg/kg for AEB, EOB, and EEB respectively. The results of the anti-inflammatory test highlight 76.33, 71.0, and 60.43% inhibition of edema at a 100 mg/kg dose for EOB, AEB, and EEB, respectively. Conclusions: The Algerian basil can be considered as an antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory.