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Ocimum plants are of great interest to traditional medicine in the history of several civilizations, particularly in terms of chronic human diseases. Essential oils obtained from this genus have also been used as therapeutic agents. In this present work, two plants of the Ocimum species from Djibouti, Ocimum basilicum L. and Ocimum americanum L., were subjected to hydrodistillation to obtain their essential oils. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was performed to determine the chemical composition of both essential oils. Linalool (41.2%) and estragole (30.1%) are the major compounds among the 37 compounds that have been identified in the essential oil of Ocimum basilicum L. (EOOB), and carvotanacetol (38.4%) and estragole (27.5%) are the main compounds among the 42 compounds that have been identified in the essential oil of Ocimum americanum L. (EOOA). Morever, the cytotoxic activity of EOs was evaluated against 13 human cancer cell lines (K562, A549, HCT116, PC3, U87-MG, MIA-Paca2, HEK293, NCI-N87, RT4, U2OS, A2780, MRC -5 and JIMT-T1) using a luminescence spectrophotometric method; hence, the oils showed significant cytotoxic activities. The antibacterial activities of the oils were assayed on five Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Streptococcus agalactiae, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Corynebacterium sp.) and seven Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Shigella sonnei, Salmonella enterica sv. Typhimurium and Enterobacter cloacae) by agar disc diffusion methods. Both essential oils exhibited moderate activities against Streptococcus agalactiae, and thus each has an activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa for EOOB and against Enterobacter cloacae for EOOA, while the others are negative. The findings of this work showed the promising anticancer effects of both oils against total cell lines with a potential for use as natural alternatives to synthetic drugs; however, there was only an antibacterial effect against Streptococcus agalactiae.

Kemangi (Ocimum americanum L.) is an aromatic plant that contains citral and known as anti-inflammatory agent. The aim of this study was to determine the anti-inflammatory activity of the essential oil kemangi leaves (Ocimum americanum L.) on carrageenan-induced rat. The male rats were divided into six groups, each consisting of four rats. Group I as negative control was given 0.5% CMC solution, group II as positive control was given diclofenac sodium, group III was given sitral, groups IV, V and VI were given 40 mg/200 g BW, 80 mg/200 g BW, and 160 mg/200 g BW essential oil of Ocimum americanum L., emulsified in 0.5% CMC solution. After 30 minutes of test substance administration, left paw of rats injected by 0.2 mL of carrageenan to induce edema. Edema volume was measured using pletismometer every hour for six hours. The result showed that at dose 160 mg/200 g BW gives the best effect in inhibited the inflamation response 44,83%. There was significant difference (pl0.05) at dose 160 mg/200 g BB to negative control. From this study can be concluded that essential oil kemangi leaves has anti-inflammatory activity.

Kemangi (Ocimum americanum L.) is a well known plant that contains essential oils with citral as a major compound. Citral is reported to have beneficial effect on intestinal motility. This reseach investigated the effect of essential oil of kemangi leaves (Ocimum americanum L.) on male DDY mices intestinal motility. Thirty mices were divided into six groups and each group was pretreated with 0,2 ml of 0,5% CMC (negative control), 1 mg/kg BW of atropine sulfate (positive control), 5 mg/kg BW of citral (comparative control), and three dose variation of volatile oil of kemangi leaves (25 mg/kg BW; 50 mg/kg BW; 100 mg/kg BW) orally. All mices were given charcoal meal suspension 0,2 ml orally, and the animals were sacrificed. The percentage ratio and inhibition were analysed by measure the intestinal transit of charcoal. The results showed that the essential oil of kemangi leaves dose 100 mg/kg BW significantly (p < 0.05) reduced intestinal transit in mice with the percentage inhibition value of 59,79%. This value is not significant different (p> 0.05) compared with citral and atropine sulfate. This research concluded that the essential oil of kemangi leaves has potential effect as antispasmodic agent.

The effects of a biodynamic sowing calendar on the growth (plant height, fresh herb yield, nodes number) and quality (percentage of leaf mass, essential oil content) of three basil species, Ocimum americanum L., Ocimum × hybrida and Ocimum basilicum L., represented by the cultivars ‘Rosso’ and ‘Eco Genovese’, were tested. Statistical analyses showed that the species had greater impact on the observed parameters than either the sowing date or the species and sowing date in combination. The species showed a significant influence on all five tested parameters, while sowing date and interaction of both factors significantly influenced plant height, leaf percentage and essential oil content. The best yield per plant was obtained for O. × hybrida and O. basilicum ‘Eco Genovese’. The lowest species O. × hybrida produced the highest amount of essential oil. »Nodes number« parameter most clearly separated the species, but not the cultivars. Even though O. americanum gave the tallest plants, it did not yield either the highest amount of fresh herb or essential oil. This species’ height was most consistent, considering the significant impact of biodynamic rhythm. Sowing date was not crucial for basil fresh yield; however if there is a need for taller plants with a higher percentage of leaf mass and more essential oil, sowing date needs to be controlled.