Antimicrobial activity and essential oils of Curcuma aeruginosa, Curcuma mangga, and Zingiber cassumunar from Malaysia

OBJECTIVE@#To analyze the chemical composition of the essential oils of Curcuma aeruginosa (C. aeruginosa), Curcuma mangga (C. mangga), and Zingiber cassumunar (Z. cassumunar), and study their antimicrobial activity.@*METHODS@#Essential oils obtained by steam distillation were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The antimicrobial activity of the essential oils was evaluated against four bacteria: Bacillus cereus (B. cereus), Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa); and two fungi: Candida albicans (C. albicans) and Cyptococcus neoformans (C. neoformans), using disc-diffusion and broth microdilution methods.@*RESULTS@#Cycloisolongifolene, 8,9-dehydro formyl (35.29%) and dihydrocostunolide (22.51%) were the major compounds in C. aeruginosa oil; whereas caryophyllene oxide (18.71%) and caryophyllene (12.69%) were the major compounds in C. mangga oil; and 2,6,9,9-tetramethyl-2,6,10-cycloundecatrien-1-one (60.77%) and α-caryophyllene (23.92%) were abundant in Z. cassumunar oil. The essential oils displayed varying degrees of antimicrobial activity against all tested microorganisms. C. mangga oil had the highest and most broad-spectrum activity by inhibiting all microorganisms tested, with C. neoformans being the most sensitive microorganism by having the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) values of 0.1 μL/mL. C. aeruginosa oil showed mild antimicrobial activity, whereas Z. cassumunar had very low or weak activity against the tested microorganisms.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The preliminary results suggest promising antimicrobial properties of C. mangga and C. aeruginosa, which may be useful for food preservation, pharmaceutical treatment and natural therapies.

Antimicrobial activity of Ficus deltoidea Jack [Mas Cotek]

Present study aimed to investigate the in vitro antimicrobial activity of the chloroform, methanol and aqueous extracts of Ficus deltoidea at 10mg/ml, 20mg/ml and 50 mg/ml, respectively using the disc diffusion method against 2 Gram positive [Staphylococcus aureus [IMR S-277], Bacillus subtilis [IMR K-1]], 2 Gram negative [Escherichia coli [IMR E-940], Pseudomonas aeroginosa [IMR P-84]] and 1 fungal strain, Candida albicans [IMR C-44]. All the extracts showed inhibitory activity on the fungus, Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria strains tested except for the chloroform and aqueous extracts on B. subtilis, E. coli, and P. aeroginosa. The methanol extract exhibited good antibacterial and antifungal activities against the test organisms. The methanol extract significantly inhibited the growth of S. aureus forming a wide inhibition zone [15.67 +/- 0.58 mm] and lowest minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC] value [3.125 mg/ml]. B. subtilis was the least sensitive to the chloroform extract [6.33 +/- 0.58 mm] and highest minimum inhibitory concentration [MIC] value [25 mg/ml]. Antimicrobial activity of F. deltoidea in vitro further justifies its utility in folkleric medicines for the treatment of infections of microbial origin.