ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY OF CITRU SESSENCES HARVESTED LOCALLY IN CHLEF REGION (ALGERIA): IN VIVO STUDY

Essence was extracted by cold expression methods from four varieties of Citrus harvested in Chlef region: C. Sinensis, C. paradisi, C. reticulate and C. aurantium. The characterization of the essence was done by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/ MS) in order to evaluate the quality and composition of these molecular species. The anti-inflammatory activity of Citrus Essence was tested with a dose of 3 and 4 ml / kg by intra- peritoneal route after induced the paw edema by carrageen in in mouse model (MORINI), the results obtained were compared with those of the standard treatment. The results of our experiment showed that Citrus essence had a significant anti-inflammatory effect via evaluation of the percentage of inhibition of edema and after a period of 120 min with C.reticulata and C. aurantium, hence for C.paradise and C. Sinensis were after 150 min. In conclusion we find that essence extracted from Citrus species reduces with significant manner the edema, whereas the molecule responsible for this effect could be limonene.