GLC STUDY AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF THE VOLATILE OIL COMPONENTS OF SOME IN VIVO AND IN VITRO TISSUES OF FOENICULUM VULGARE MILL. VAR. VULGARE

Rehab H. Abd-Allah*, Ehsan M. Abo Zeid, Mahmoud M. Zakaria and Samih I. Eldahmy

ABSTRACT

Foeniculum vulgare Mill. is a wild, annual herb native to the Mediterranean area. The plant is commonly known as the bitter fennel or the common fennel, known in Egypt as "shamar".[1] This plant is rich in important pharmacologically active secondary metabolites as volatile oils, resins, coumarins, terpenes, sesquiterpenes, triterpenoid, saponins and acetylenic compounds; while alkaloids are.[2] This study focused on comparing the volatile oil constituents of different plant parts of wild, cultivated plant as well as in vitro induced calluses and plantlets using gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GLC/MS). Also, biological study of the plant volatile oils was performed to screen different activities like analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antispasmodic and anxiolytic activities which were highly significant. Moreover, a comparative antimicrobial study was conducted to extracts of both the wild plant and the micro-propagated plants. The observations were highly valuable as extracts of the micro-propagated plants showed stronger activity than the extracts of the wild plant against the tested microorganisms and also showed activity against Candida albicans contrary from the wild plant extracts that showed no activity against it.

Keywords: Foeniculum vulgare, Volatile oils, Callus, In vitro propagation, GLC-MS of extracts, Biological activity.