Author(s)

Dorothée D. Tshilanda¹, Paulin K. Mutwale², Damase V. N. Onyamboko¹, Philippe B. Babady³, Philippe V. Tsalu¹, Damien S. T. Tshibangu¹, Nadege K. Ngombe², M. Frederich⁴, Koto-te-Nyiwa Ngbolua⁵, Pius T. Mpiana^1*

¹Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
²Centre d’Etudes des Substances Naturelles d’Origine Végétale (CESNOV), Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
³Bila Nutraceuticals Company, Dartmouth, Canada.
⁴Laboratory of Pharmacognosy, Department of Pharmacy, CIRM, University of Liège, CHU, Liège, Belgium.
⁵Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The aim of this study was to characterize the polyphenolic composition by determination of chemical fingerprints of Methanolic extracts of Ocimum canum Sims, Ocimum basilicum L. and Ocimum gratissimum L. from Democratic Republic of Congo and to compare their antisickling activity of that of rosmarinic acid, the major compound to those of methanolic extracts. Phytochemical analysis performed by TLC and HPLC analysis, showed that rosmarinic acid is the most abundant phenolic acid in these Ocimum species according to the following order O. basilicum L., O. gratissimum L. and O. canum Sims. Methanolic extracts of these three species and pure rosmarinic acid showed significant antisickling activities with minimal concentration of normalization values of 0.18 ± 0.03, 0.23 ± 0.04, 0.26 ± 0.04 and 0.31 ± 0.05 mg/mL for rosmarinic acid, O. basilicum L., O. gratissimum L. and O. canum Sims methanolic extracts respectively. The antisickling activity order is the same as that of the rosmarinic acid content, indicating that this polyphenolic acid would be among the main active molecules in these extracts.

Antisickling, Chemical Fingerprint, O. canum, O. basilicum, O. gratissimum, Rosmarinic Acid

Tshilanda, D. , Mutwale, P. , Onyamboko, D. , Babady, P. , Tsalu, P. , Tshibangu, D. , Ngombe, N. , Frederich, M. , Ngbolua, K. and Mpiana, P. (2016) Chemical Fingerprint and Anti-Sickling Activity of Rosmarinic Acid and Methanolic Extracts from Three Species of Ocimum from DR Congo. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 4, 59-68. doi: 10.4236/jbm.2016.41008.