Abstract & Overview
Inula viscosa is a medicinal plant belonging to the Asteraceae family. This species is known under the name of Magramen. It is widespread in the Mediterranean region. An ethnobotanical survey was carried out in the city of Sidi Bel Abbes where this plant abounds. On the other hand, a phytochemical study of Inula viscosa is carried out. The determination of total phenols was carried out by using the Folin-Ciocalteu reagent, the quantification of flavonoids by the method with aluminum trichloride and sodium hydroxide, and that of the tannins condensed by the vanillin method under acidic conditions. Antioxidant activity was assessed using the free radical reduction method (DPPH). Thus, a toxicity test was carried out according to line 420 of the OECD. The results showed that this plant is involved in: the treatment of osteoarticular or rheumatic diseases (33%), dermatological infections (33%), nervous system (11%), digestive disorders (11%), and cardiovascular diseases (6%). The phytochemical screening allowed us to highlight the presence of secondary metabolites in the leaves of our plant; such as flavonoids, terpenoids, tannins, glycosides, and carotenoids. The content of the leaves in total phenols (31.46 mg AGE / g) is higher than that of the twigs (30.28 mg GAE / g). The amount of flavonoids is slightly higher in the leaves (133.93 mg EC / g) than in the twigs (37.12 mg EC / g). The prepared extracts have very significant anti-free radical activities since they recorded very remarkable IC50 values of 0.1 to 4.1 mg/ml. Inula viscosa is non-toxic for a dose of 2000 mg/ml or less.