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 Oct 20;14(10):4213-30.
doi: 10.3390/molecules14104213.

Chemical composition and in vitro antimicrobial and mutagenic activities of seven Lamiaceae essential oils

Laura De Martino  1 , Vincenzo De Feo, Filomena Nazzaro
Affiliations

Chemical composition and in vitro antimicrobial and mutagenic activities of seven Lamiaceae essential oils

Laura De Martino et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Deeper knowledge of the potentiality of aromatic plants can provide results of economic importance for food and pharmacological industry. The essential oils of seven Lamiaceae species were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and assayed for their antibacterial, antifungal and mutagenic activities. Monoterpenes in the oils ranged between 82.47% (hyssop oil) and 97.48% (thyme oil), being mainly represented by oxygenated compounds. The antibacterial activity was evaluated against six pathogenic and five non-pathogenic bacterial strains. Oregano and thyme oils showed the strongest antibacterial activity against the pathogenic ones. The antifungal activity was evaluated against six fungal strains of agrifood interest: the oils tested exhibited variable degrees of activity. Two Salmonella typhimurium strains were used to assess the possible mutagenic activity. No oil showed mutagenic activity. Data obtained let us hypothesise that the use of essential oils could be a viable and safe way to decrease the utilisation of synthetic food preservatives. Further research is needed to obtain information regarding the practical effectiveness of essential oils to prevent the growth of food borne and spoiling microbes under specific application conditions.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Ipek E., Zeytinoglu H., Okay S., Tuylu B.A., Kurkcuoglu M., Baser K.H.C. Genotoxicity and antigenotoxicity of Origanum oil and carvacrol evaluated by Ames Salmonella/microsomal test. Food Chem. 2005;93:551–556. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2004.12.034. - DOI
    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. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2005.03.013. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bozin B., Mimica-Dukic N., Simin N., Anackov G. Characterization of the volatile composition of essential oils of some Lamiaceae spices and the antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the entire oils. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2006;54:1822–1828. doi: 10.1021/jf051922u. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tsigarida E., Skandamis P., Nychas G.J.E. Behaviour of Lysteria monocytogenes andautochthonous flora on meat stored under aerobic, vacuum and modified atmosphere packaging conditions with or without the presence of oregano essential oil at 5 °C. J. Appl. Microbiol. 2000;89:901–909. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2672.2000.01170.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hammer K.A., Carson C.F., Riley T.V. Antimicrobial activity of essential oils and other plant extracts. J. Appl. Microbiol. 1999;86:985–990. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2672.1999.00780.x. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources