Medicinal potential of Thuja occidentalis and its essential oil
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31989/bchd.v8i5.1626Abstract
Thuja occidentalis L., which belongs to the Cupressaceae family, is commonly used in urban landscaping for its positive effects on microclimate regulation, noise reduction, air humidity maintenance, and air quality improvement. In folk medicine, Thuja occidentalis is used to treat bronchial asthma, rheumatism, and cystitis due to its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and anthelmintic properties. The crude extract of the aerial parts and their fractions in the Thuja occidentalis plant have been shown to have dose-dependent spasmolytic effects on isolated rabbit intestines.
Thuja essential oil has antifungal, anthelmintic, antiviral, and antimicrobial properties. Thujone is the main component of the thuja, while α-thujone displays antibacterial activity against some gram-negative bacteria. This effect creates an inhibitory effect in low concentrations of biofilm formation within different bacterial strains. Therefore, α-thujone may be a valuable tool for antibacterial therapy. The qualitative and quantitative composition of Thuja occidentalis essential oil is determined by the geographical conditions, climatic conditions of tree growth, and methods of harvesting the raw plant material. This paper collects various research on the medicinal properties of Thuja occidentalis essential oil and investigates the variables that influence oil composition.
Keywords: thuja, thujone, growth, plant extract, enantiomer
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 FFC/Bioactive Compounds in Health and Disease
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors retain the copyright of their articles and grant the Functional Food Center (FFC) and its journals the right of first publication under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, including commercial use, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited. Authors may post and share their published work freely, provided that the original publication in this journal is acknowledged.
By submitting to this journal, authors confirm that their manuscripts are original, not under consideration elsewhere, and that they hold the necessary rights to grant this license. The Functional Food Center encourages open scientific exchange and allows derivative and extended works, provided attribution to the original publication is maintained.