Predictive toxicity of Chemicals of the essential oils of Ocimum gratissimum L. from Yaoundé (Center region Cameroon) and Dschang (West region Cameroon).

Jean Babtiste Hzounda, Fokou, Ide Flavie Kenfack Tsague and Issakou Bakarnga Via, University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon
Pierre Michel Jazet Dingmo, University of Douala, Cameroon
Fabrice Fekam Boyom, University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon

Ocimum gratissimum is widely used in Cameroon as spices in traditional soups and it is an ingredient in traditional medicine. But there is no report on the toxic effect of the essential oils of Ocimum gratissimum L. from Cameroon. The present report focuses on the prediction of the toxicity of different chemicals from Dschang and Yaoundé Ocimum gratissimum L. essential oils. The oil were extracted from the fresh leaves using the Clevenger type apparatus, dried through the anhydrous sodium sulfate column and stored in dark bottles in the refrigerator. These essential oils were characterized using GC and GC/MS. The prediction of the toxicity was done by comparison of the chemical structure of the compounds with that of the data base of Lhasa ltd for Thyroid toxicity, Miscellaneous end points, Irritation, Respiration sensitization, Skin sensitization, HERG channel inhibition in vitro, Chromosome damage, Mutagenicity, Reproductive toxicity, Ocular toxicity, Rapid prototype of Chromosome damage in vitro, Rapid prototype of kidney disorder, Rapid prototype of hepathotoxiciyty, Rapid prototype of nephrotocixity, Rapid prototype of Bradicardia. The software used was DEREK NEXUS 2010 for windows. The result obtained show that the compounds of essential oil from Dschang and Yaoundé were positive to Skin sensitization/irritation (59.8% and 21.1%), carcinogenicity (1.4% and 4.2%), Nephrotoxicity (1.2% and 4.3%), teratogenicity (0% and 0.4%), hepathoxicity (47.9% and 3.6%) alpha-2-Mu Globin nephropathy (0.2% and 0%), developmental toxicity (0.2% and 1.4%) in vitro damage on DNA (66.8% and 41.3%) respectively. 32.2% and 15.6%.of the compounds from Ocimum gratissimum from Yaoundé and Dschang respectively could be safe. We can conclude that the essential oil from Dschang could be more toxic than that of Yaoundé. This report suggests a high toxic effect of the Western Cameroon Ocimum gratissimum L, based on statistical prediction. Further predictions will be done using OpenTox, another software which take into account the false negative and false positive predictions.