Events The 6th International Electronic Conference on Foods

Event submissions

Published

This submission belongs to the session H. Foods as Medicine of the event The 6th International Electronic Conference on Foods

Published date

27 Oct, 2025

Academic Editor

Antonello Santini

Citation

Efstathia Karachaliou, Anne-Claire Offer, Eleftherios Kalpoutzakis, Maeva Wendremaire, Alexios-Leandros Skaltsounis, Loïc Briand, In vitro anti-inflammatory Potential of Hydrosols and Essential Oils from fresh female cones of Five Juniperus spp. collected in Greece, in Proceedings of The 6th International Electronic Conference on Foods, 28 October–30 October 2025, MDPI: Basel, Switzerland

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In vitro anti-inflammatory Potential of Hydrosols and Essential Oils from fresh female cones of Five Juniperus spp. collected in Greece

Efstathia Karachaliou ¹

Eleftherios Kalpoutzakis ²

Maeva Wendremaire ³

Alexios-Leandros Skaltsounis ⁴

Loïc Briand ⁵

Anne-Claire Offer ⁵

1. Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l' Alimentation (CSGA), Université Bourgogne Europe, Dijon, 21000, France, France

2. Department of Pharmacognosy and Natural Products Chemistry, University of Athens, 15771 Panepis-timiopolis Zografou, Greece, Greece

3. INSERM UMR 1231, Centre for Translational and Molecular Medicine, UFR des Sciences de Santé, Université de Bourgogne-Europe, 21000 Dijon Cedex, France, France

4. Department of Pharmacognosy and Natural Products Chemistry, University of Athens, 15771 Panepis-timiopolis Zografou, Greece, France

5. Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l'Alimentation, CNRS, INRAE, Institut Agro, Université de Bour-gogne-Europe, 21000 Dijon Cedex, France, France

Abstract

Needle-leaved junipers (Juniperus, Cupressaceae) are coniferous trees and shrubs with red or blue fleshy cones, distributed across Asia, Macaronesia, and the Mediterranean Basin [1]. Recognizing its medicinal properties, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has published two monographs on Juniperus communis dried cones and essential oil, highlighting their traditional use as a diuretic and for digestive, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal relief [2,3].

Phytochemically, monoterpenes dominate in Juniperus species, with the bicyclic monoterpene α-pinene being the major constituent. This study investigates the fresh female cones of five Juniperus species (J. drupacea, J. communis subsp. hemisphaerica, J. oxycedrus subsp. deltoides, J. macrocarpa, and J. turbinata) through distillation and GC-MS analysis on an Agilent HP-5MS column. The analysis revealed a total of 172 different compounds, dispersed differently in the essential oils and hydrosols. Ranging from 37 to 52 metabolites identified in each sample, the main class of compounds was terpenes, whereas the major α-pinene in essential oils ranged from 40.84% in J. communis subsp. hemisphaerica to 81.50% in J. turbinata.

The hydrodistillation protocol used to obtain essential oils and hydrosols, as well as the in vitro results related to anti-inflammatory activity assessed in macrophages using NADPH oxidase inhibition, will be discussed.

[1] Gutiérrez-Larruscain D., Vargas P., Fernández-Mazuecos M., Pausas J. G. Phylogenomic analysis reveals the evolutionary history of Paleartic needle-leaved junipers. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2024; 199: 108162. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108162.

[2] EMA/HMPC/12402/2010. Juniperi aetheroleum. https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/herbal/juniperi-aetheroleum. Accessed March 1, 2025

[3] EMA/HMPC/241320/2021. Juniperi pseudo-fructus (galbulus). https://www.ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/herbal/juniperi-pseudo-fructus-galbulus. Accessed March 1, 2025

Keywords

Juniperus

essential oils

hydrosols

anti-inflammatory activity

Cupressaceae

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