Journal of Medicinal Plant Research Vol. 1 (1), 018 - 026, August 2007          
© 2007 Academic Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Phytochemical and biological investigation of Tanacetum parthenium (L.) cultivated in Egypt

Mostafa E. M. Rateb¹, Abdel-Nasser A. M. El-Gendy², Seham S. El-Hawary³ and Ali M. El-Shamy³

¹Pharmacognosy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni-Sueif University, Egypt.

²Pharmacology Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Sueif University, Egypt.

³Pharmacognosy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Egypt.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: mostafa19772002@yahoo.com

Accepted 17 July, 2007

Phytochemical investigation of Tanacetum parthenium (L.) family Asteraceae cultivated in Egypt resulted in isolation and identification of four flavonoids isolated from the aerial part, four sesquiterpene lactones isolated from the leaves, two sterols isolated from the roots. A comparative study of the essential oil content of the leaves and the flower heads was performed using (GC/MS) revealing the presence of 42 and 30 components with the major components camphor (constituted 37.7 and 48.4%) and chrysanthenyl acetate (constituted 33.8 and 26.3%) in the leaves and the flower heads, respectively. Different extracts of T. parthenium (L.) showed significant analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antispasmodic and uterine-stimulant activities in addition to the in vitro cytotoxic effect.

Key words: Tanacetum parthenium, ethanol and water extracts, essential oil, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antispasmodic, uterine stimulant and cytotoxic.