Cosmeceutical activity of Rhabdocaulon lavanduloides essential oil and ethylacetate extracts

Popularly known as lavanda-do-Brasil, Rhabdocaulon lavanduloides (Benth.) Epling (Lamiaceae), is an endemic species found in Brazil in the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes. In this work, essential oils from dry leaves (RLOE-1), and dry stem (RLOE-2), Soxhlet ethylacetate extracts from dry flowers (RLFl), dry leaves (RLF) and dry stem (RLC) of R. lavanduloides were tested for their cosmeceutical activity using anti-elastase, anti-collagenase, and anti-tyrosinase assay and the results were expressed as the respective IC 50 values. The major constituent of the essential oil, the terpenoid 2-methoxy-carvacrol (RL2M), isolated from the essential oil of dry leaves was also subjected to the analysis. The highest anti-tyrosinase activity was displayed by RLFl (131.6±5.7 μg/mL), however, the tyrosinase inhibitory activity of the extract was moderate, and not reaching the activity of the standard, kojic acid (0.35±0.01 μg/mL) (ANOVA followed by Dunnets’ post-hoc test, p