Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 May;44(3):253-9.
doi: 10.3164/jcbn.08-240. Epub 2009 Apr 25.

Radical Scavenging Activity of the Essential Oil of Silver Fir (Abies alba)

Seun-Ah Yang  1 , Sang-Kyung Jeon, Eun-Jung Lee, Nam-Kyung Im, Kwang-Hwan Jhee, Sam-Pin Lee, In-Seon Lee
Affiliations

Radical Scavenging Activity of the Essential Oil of Silver Fir (Abies alba)

Seun-Ah Yang et al. J Clin Biochem Nutr. 2009 May.

Abstract

The essential oil of silver fir (Abies alba) is known to help respiratory system and have easing and soothing effect for muscle. In the present study, we investigated the chemical composition, cytotoxicity and its biological activities of silver fir (Abies alba) essential oil. The composition of the oil was analyzed by GC-MS and bornyl acetate (30.31%), camphene (19.81%), 3-carene (13.85%), tricyclene (12.90%), dl-limonene (7.50%), alpha-pinene (2.87%), caryophyllene (2.18%), beta-phellandrene (2.13%), borneol (1.74%), bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene,2,3-dimethyl (1.64%) and alpha-terpinene (1.24%) were the major components in the oil. The results tested by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay indicated that the oil showed no cytotoxic effect, at concentrations of 1 and 5%, for as long as 24 and 3 h, respectively. The antiradical capacity was evaluated by measuring the scavenging activity of the essential oil on the 2,20-diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis 3-ethyl benzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) radicals. The oil was able to reduce the both radicals dose-dependently, and the concentration required for 50% reduction (RC(50)) against DPPH radicals (2.7 +/- 0.63%) was lower than ABTS radicals (8.5 +/- 0.27%). The antibacterial activity of the oil was also evaluated using disc diffusion method against Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mutans, Listeria monocytogenes, Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, and Vibrio parahaemolyticcus. The oil exhibited no antibacterial activity against all the bacterial strains tested except S. aureus of mild activity.

Keywords: Abies alba; GC-MS; antibacterial; antiradical; silver fir essential oil.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Total ion current chromatograms of silver fir essential oil obtained by GC-MS analysis. The numbers refer to those in Table 1.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Effects of silver fir oil on the viability of CCD-986SK human fibroblast cells. Cells were treated with the oil for 24 h. *p<0.01 compared to control.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Free radical-scavenging activities of silver fir essential oil and references. Essential oil was diluted in methanol to 1.0%, 1.7%, 2.5%, 5.0%, 10.0% and the references were used at 5 µg/ml for DPPH (A) and 0.14 mM trolox for ABTS system (B).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Min D.B., Li T.L., Lee H.O. Effects of processing steps on the contents of minor compounds and oxidation of soybean oil. Adv. Exp. Med. Bio. 1998;434:161–180. - PubMed
    1. Carson C.F., Hammer K.A., Riley T.V. Melaleuca alternifolia (Tea Tree) oil: a review of antimicrobial and other medicinal properties. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 2006;19:50–62. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Halcón L., Milkus K. Staphylococcus aureus and wounds: a review of tea tree oil as a promising antimicrobial. Am. J. Infect Control. 2004;32:402–408. - PubMed
    1. Evandri M.G., Battinelli L., Daniele C., Mastrangelo S., Bolle P., Mazzanti G. The antimutagenic activity of Lavandula angustifolia (lavender) essential oil in the bacterial reverse mutation assay. Food Chem. Toxicol. 2005;43:1381–1387. - PubMed
    1. Lis-Balchin M., Hart S. Studies on the mode of action of the essential oil of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia P. Miller) Phytother. Res. 1999;13:540–542. - PubMed