RESUMO
The essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation from Satureja cuneifolia, Satureja thymbra, Coridothymus capitatus, Thymus syriacus, and Thymbra spicata growing wild in Lebanon. Their phytochemical analysis performed by GC/MS showed that the aforementioned species are characterized either by carvacrol (60.9%) or thymol (54.3%) or by a more or less equal amounts of these two phenols. Assessment of their in vitro antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans and six pathogenic bacteria using the broth dilution method revealed that the tested oils have a broad activity spectrum with minimum inhibitory concentration ranging from 0.1 to 0.8 mg/ml. Among the tested species, S. thymbra EO showed the highest antimicrobial potential whereas T. syriacus showed the lowest inhibitory activity. These results give scientific evidence for the use of those species in the Lebanese folk medicine and lend support to implement them as natural alternatives for synthetic antimicrobials.
Assuntos
Anti-Infecciosos/farmacologia , Lamiaceae/química , Óleos Voláteis/química , Anti-Infecciosos/isolamento & purificação , Bactérias/efeitos dos fármacos , Candida albicans/efeitos dos fármacos , Cimenos , Cromatografia Gasosa-Espectrometria de Massas , Líbano , Testes de Sensibilidade Microbiana , Monoterpenos/análise , Monoterpenos/isolamento & purificação , Monoterpenos/farmacologia , Óleos Voláteis/análise , Satureja/química , Timol/análise , Timol/isolamento & purificação , Timol/farmacologia , Thymus (Planta)/químicaRESUMO
The essential oils (EOs) of the aerial parts of Origanum libanoticum and Origanum ehrenbergii, endemic to Lebanon, and Origanum syriacum, endemic to the Levantine, were obtained by distillation with a Clevenger apparatus. GC and GC/MS allowed identification of 96.4%, 93.5%, and 95.2% of their constituents, respectively. Carvacrol was the major component of both O. syriacum EO (79%) and O. ehrenbergii EO (60.8%). This compound was absent in O. libanoticum EO and the major compounds were ß-caryophyllene (26.8%), caryophyllene oxide (22.6%), and germacrene D (17.2%). The assessment of their antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans and six pathogenic bacteria revealed that O. libanoticum EO was inactive, while O. syriacum and O. ehrenbergii showed moderate antimicrobial activity with minimal inhibitory concentrations varying from 400 to 1200 µg/ml. These results support the traditional use of these last two species in traditional herbal preparations in Lebanon.
