Table 3.
Pharmacological Properties of Origanum majorana in Detail.
| Pharmacological Activity | Plant part / Extract | Method | Result | Active Constituent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antioxidant20 | Ethanol, n-hexane, supercritical CO2 and water extract of herb | DPPH method and chemiluminometric method | Antioxidant activities of all extracts | Ursolic acid, carnosic acid, carnosol |
| Antioxidant19 | Essential oil | DPPH reduction test | Low antioxidant activity with EC50 values >250μg/mL | — |
| Antioxidant17 | Essential oil | (1) DPPH assay (2) Percent inhibition in linoleic acid system (3) Bleaching of β-carotene | 1)IC50 of 89.2 µg/ml 2) 72.8% inhibition of linoleic acid oxidation 3)showed slow rate of color depletion | — |
| Antioxidant8 | Ethyl acetate extract and isolated compounds | DPPH | Significant antioxidant activities from extract and isolated compounds with IC50 of 2.77 and 1.92 µg/mL, respectively | Hydroquinone |
| Antioxidant22 | Essential oil / Water extract | ABTS + reducing power were examined for their effect against lipid oxidation in comparison to a tea water extract by measurement of the oil stability index | Remarkable capacity in retarding lipid oxidation with oil stability index 13.9 hours | Bound forms of phenolic compounds such as hydroxycinnamic acid and flavonoids |
| Antioxidant21 | Hydroalcoholic extract | ABTS + radical decolorization and DPPH assay | Significant antioxidant capacity with 0.84 and 0.33 mmol TE/g DW, respectively | Polyphenolic compounds |
| Antioxidant28 | Essential oil | Glutathione level and lipid peroxidation content as malondialdehyde in the testis, liver and brain in ethanol treatment male albino rat (ethanol induced reproductive disturbances and oxidative damage in different organs and lipid peroxidation due to the formation of free radicals) | Co-administration of the extract resulted in minimizing the hazard effects of ethanol toxicity on male fertility, liver and brain tissues | — |
| Antioxidant16 | Essential oil | DPPH, .OH, H2O2, reducing power and lipid peroxidation | IC50 values of 58.67, 67.11, 91.25, 78.67, and 68.75 µg/mL, respectively | — |
| Antioxidant29 | Water extract | DPPH | High antioxidant capacity | Phenolic compounds |
| Antioxidant30 | Isolated metabolite | Amyloid β–induced oxidative injury in PC12 nerve cells by MTT, LDH, and trypan blue assays | ↓ Amyloid β–induced neurotoxic effect | Ursolic acid |
| Antioxidant31 | Plant extract | DPPH and ferric ion reducing antioxidant power assays | A direct, positive, and linear relationship between antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of extract | Rosmarinic acid |
| Antimicrobial18 | Dried whole plant/oil/leaves aqueous extract | MIC | Better antimicrobial activity of essential oil rather than water extract; inhibition of yeast and lactic acid bacteria by essential oil at a concentration of 5 ppm | — |
| Antimicrobial32 | Essential oil | ND | The most susceptible organisms were Beneckea natriegens, Erwinia carotovora, and Moraxella sp. and Aspergillus niger | — |
| Antimicrobial26 | n-Hexane extract, aqueous ethanol, ethanolic ammonia extract | Disk-diffusion method for bacteria and serial dilution method for protozoa | n-Hexane extract showed the highest antibacterial activity and the ethanolic ammonia extract reduced the number of viable Pentatrichomonas hominis trophozoites by 50% at 160 µg/ml | — |
| Antimicrobial33 | Methanol extract | Filter paper disk diffusion method | Considerable activity against Aspergillus niger, Fusarium solani, and Bacillus subtilis with zone of inhibition 40, 28 and 42 mm, respectively | — |
| Antimicrobial17 | Essential oil | (1) Disk diffusion (2) Resazurin microtitre-plate | (1) Large zone of inhibition (16.5-27.0 mm) (2) Small MIC against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, B subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella poona, Escherichia coli (40.9-1250.3 μg/mL) | — |
| Antimicrobial15 | Essential oil | Agar diffusion method | Active against Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae with inhibition zone of 16, 12, 15, and 13 mm, respectively | cis-Sabinene hydrate |
| Antimicrobial19 | Essential oil | Microdilution | Inhibitory activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes with MICs of 125 and 250 μg/mL, respectively | — |
| Antimicrobial19 | Essential oil | Diffusion assay | Growth inhibitory activity against dermatophytes | — |
| Antimicrobial34 | Methanol extract of leaves | Zone of inhibition | Inhibitory activity against Escherichia coli with 16 mm diameter zone of inhibition | — |
| Anti-inflammatory35 | Essential oil | THP-1 human macrophage cells activated by LPS or human ox-LDL, and the cytokine secretion and gene expression, in vitro | Suppression of production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-10) and COX-2 and NFκB gene expression | Sabinene hydrate, terpineol |
| Anticancer17 | Essential oil | MTT assay | Cytotoxic effect against different cancer cell type, such as MCF-7, LNCaP, NIH-3T3 with IC50 s of 70.0, 85.3, 300.5 µg/ml respectively | — |
| Anticancer36 | Ethanol, methanol and water extract | MTT assay, trypan blue dye exclusion, AO/EB staining and fluorescence microscopical analysis and DNA fragmentation analysis | Significant cytotoxic activity of ethanolic extract on fibrosarcoma cancer cell line HT-1080 and least toxicity on normal human lymphocytes | — |
| Anticancer37 | Plant extract | Nonradioactive cytotoxicity assay on human lymphoblastic leukemia cell line Jurkat | ↓ Viability of cells with increase of concentration of plant extract. Induction of apoptosis through upregulation of p53 protein levels and downregulation of Bcl-2α. Strong radical scavenging activity | — |
| Anticancer38 | Ethanol extract | (1) Matrigel invasion assays (2) Gelatin zymography assay (3) Chick embryo tumor growth assay | (1) Significant inhibition of migration and invasion of the MDA-MB-231 cells. Induction of homotypic aggregation of cells associated with an up regulation of E-cadherin protein and decrease the adhesion of cells to HUVECs and inhibition of transendothelial migration of cells through TNF-α-activated HUVECs (2) Suppression of activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9 (3) Inhibition of tumor growth and metastasis | — |
| Anticancer8 | Ethyl acetate extract and isolated compounds | BrdU cell proliferation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and xCELLigence assay against C6 and HeLa cell lines | Strong antiproliferative activities against C6 and HeLa cells | Hesperetin, Hydroquinone |
| Antiplatelet12 | Methanol extract of leaves | Adhesion, aggregation and protein secretion of the activated platelet to laminin-coated plates | 40% inhibition of platelet adhesion to laminin-coated wells by ethanol extract at concentration of 200 µg/mL | — |
| Antiplatelet39 | Methanol extract | Platelet aggregation induced by collagen; ADP, arachidonic acid and thrombin | Strong inhibition of platelet aggregation induced by ADP, arachidonic acid and thrombin | Arbutin |
| Antiulcer27 | Ethanol extract | Hypothermic restraint stress-, indomethacin-, and necrotizing agents–induced ulcers and pylorus ligated Shay rat-model | ↓ Incidence of ulcers, basal gastric secretion and acid output. replenishment of the depleted gastric wall mucus and nonprotein sulfhydryls contents and ↓ malondialdehyde | — |
| Gastric secretory activity40 | Plant extract | Acid and pepsin secretions in normal Wistar rats | ↑ Basal acid and pepsin secretions | — |
| Cardioprotective activity41 | Leaves powder and aqueous extract | Isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction in rats | Alleviation of erythrocytosis, granulocytosis, thrombocytosis, ↓ clotting time, ↑ relative heart weight, ↓ myocardial oxidative stress and the leakage of heart enzymes. inhibition of NO production and lipid peroxidation in heart tissues | — |
| Hepatoprotective activity10 | Essential oil | Pralletrin-induced oxidative stress in rats (prallethrin caused a significant decrease in the activity of SOD, CAT, and GST in liver of rats) | Depletion of serum marker enzymes and replenishment of antioxidative status | — |
| Antiacetylcholinesterase activities16 | Essential oil | ND | IC50 value was 36.40 µg/mL | — |
| Anticholinesterase activity42 | Ethanol extract | In vitro | The Ki value was 6 pM, and IC50 value was 7.5 nM | Ursolic acid |
| Hormonal activity and regulation of menstrual cycle43 | Water extract | 25 patients were received marjoram tea or a placebo tea twice daily for 1 month. Hormonal and metabolic parameters measured, including FSH, LH, progesterone, oestradiol, total testosterone, DHEA-S, fasting insulin and glucose | ↓ DHEA-S and fasting insulin levels | — |
Abbreviations: ABTS: 2, 2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid); ADP, adenosine diphosphate; CAT, catalase; COX, cyclooxygenase; DHEA-S, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate; DPPH, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl; DW, dry weight; EC, effective concentration; FSH, follicle-stimulating hormone; GSH, glutathione S-transferase; IC, inhibitory concentration; IL, interleukin; LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; LH, luteinizing hormone; MIC, minimum inhibitory concentration; MMP, matrix metalloproteinase; MTT, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide; ND, not determined; NO, nitric oxide; PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome; SOD, superoxide dismutase; TE, trolox equivalent; TNF, tumor necrosis factor.