Bioassay-guided evaluation of antinociceptive properties and chemical variability of the essential oil of Hyptis fruticosa

The composition of three samples of essential oil (EO) extracted from the leaves and flowers of Hyptis fruticosa (Lamiaceae) were investigated by GC/MS and GC‐FID. The variability of the constituents and biological activity were evaluated in the oil samples. Acetic acid‐induced abdominal constrictions and formalin‐induced pain tests in mice were used for screening the antinociceptive activity. The possible antagonism of the essential oils or morphine (MOR) antinociceptive effects by pretreatment with naloxone, showed no influence on the antinociceptive action of the oils in the acetic acid‐induced writhing test. All examined oil samples presented antinociceptive activity. The oil sample obtained from the leaves collected during the vegetative growth stage, near São Cristóvão at Sítio Tujubeba exhibited the highest effect. The same oil sample had a main percentage of 1,8‐cineole (18.70%). Nevertheless, the oil obtained from flowers collected at the same location, showed a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the response intensity in the first phase of paw licking (100 mg/kg) possibly due to the higher contents of α‐pinene (20.51%) and β‐pinene (13.64%). The results provide evidence for the use of H. fruticosa by traditional medicine practitioners in the management of pain. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Composition and antibacterial activity of Abies balsamea essential oil

The antibacterial activity of the essential oil of Abies balsamea (balsam fir) was evaluated against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The essential oil of A. balsamea was found to be inactive against E. coli (>100 microg/mL) and active against S. aureus, with an MIC of 56 microg/mL. The oil composition was analysed by GC-MS and the antibacterial activity of each oil constituent was determined. The essential oil of A. balsamea is essentially constituted of monoterpenes (>96%) and some sesquiterpenes. beta-pinene (29.9%), delta-3-carene (19.6%) and alpha-pinene (14.6%) were the major components. beta-pinene and delta-3-carene were found inactive against both bacteria strains. However, three constituents of the essential oil were active against S. aureus: alpha-pinene, beta-caryophyllene (0.4%) and alpha-humulene (0.2%) with MIC values of 13.6 microg/mL, 5.1 microg/mL and 2.6 microg/mL, respectively.     

Antimicrobial properties of the essential oil of Artemisia asiatica Nakai

The antibacterial and antifungal activity of the essential oil of Artemisia asiatica Nakai, its main constituents: 1,8-cineole and selin-11-en-4alpha-ol and monoterpene alcohols fraction were determined against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, Rhodotorula rubra and Aspergillus fumigatus. The oil exhibited a good inhibitory activity against bacteria and fungi. The monoterpene alcohols fraction showed the highest antibacterial activity.     

Composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Hypericum rumeliacum subsp. apollinis (Boiss. & Heldr.)

The composition and the antimicrobial activity of the aerial parts of Hypericum rumeliacum are reported. Analysis was carried out by GC/MS. The major constituents were alpha-pinene (43.80%), beta-pinene (9.82%), dehydro-aromadendrene (6.81%) and alpha-copaene (5.41%). The essential oil showed a moderate in vitro activity against the six Gram negative and positive bacteria and a stronger one against the three-tested pathogenic activity.     

Composition and cytotoxic activity of the leaf essential oil of Comptonia peregrina (L.) Coulter

Comptonia peregrina (L.) Coulter, a native plant from Canada used in traditional medicine against cancer, was extracted by hydrodistillation. Two fractions were collected, one over 0-30 min and one over 30-60 min, to assess the influence of time of hydrodistillation on the composition of essential oil. The chemical composition of these two extracts was determined by GC and GC-MS analyses. Fifty five components were identified: beta-caryophyllene (23.69% and 15.16%) and alpha-humulene (9.67% and 7.43%) were the major components in the 0-30 min and 30-60 min fractions, respectively, while beta-myrcene was detected in a higher amount in the 0-30 min fraction (12.58%) than in the 30-60 min fraction (0.15%). The cytotoxic activities of these fractions were assessed against human lung carcinoma cell line A-549 and human colon adenocarcinoma cell line DLD-1. Only the 30-60 min fraction was found to be active against both tumor cell lines, with GI(50) values of 66 +/- 12 microg/mL for A-549 and of 46 +/- 7 microg/mL for DLD-1. Two sesquiterpenes present in the oil, alpha-humulene and (E)-nerolidol, have been found to be cytotoxic against both tumor cell lines.     

Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Cryptomeria japonica

The composition and the antibacterial activity of the essential oil obtained from Cryptomeria japonica D. Don on oral bacteria were studied. The chemical composition of the essential oil was analysed by GC and GC-MS. Sixty-eight compounds accounting for 95.82% of the oil were identified. The main compounds in the oil were alpha-pinene (6.07%), sabinene (8.86%), terpinen-4-ol (9.77%), alpha-terpineol (6.13%), elemol (11.17%) and 10(15)-cadinen-4-ol (7.16%). The essential oil and some of its major compounds were tested for antimicrobial activity against 15 different genera of oral bacteria. The essential oil of C. japonica exhibited considerable inhibitory effects against all bacteria tested (MICs, 0.025-0.05 mg/mL; MBCs, 0.025-0.1 mg/mL), while its major compounds demonstrated various degrees of growth inhibition.     

Cytostatic activity against HEp-2 cells and antibacterial activity of essential oil from Helichrysum picardii

Different samples of essential oil from Helichrysum picardii Boiss. & Reuter (Compositae) collected at the beginning of each season from the same locality have been tested for their cytostatic and antimicrobial activity. All the oil samples showed a stronger in vitro activity against HEp-2 cells than a 6-mercaptopurine solution used as a positive control. Gram-positive bacteria as well as the fungus Candida albicans were sensitive to the action of the essential oil, whereas none of the samples showed activity against the gram-negative bacteria.     

SFE-CO2萃取和水蒸气蒸馏提取熏衣草精油的抗菌活性比较与GC-MS分析

目的：考察用SFE-CO₂萃取(SFE-CO₂)技术和水蒸气蒸馏法(HD)提取的熏衣草精油的体外抗微生物活性，比较两者化学成分的差异。方法：采用滤纸片琼脂平板扩散法和琼脂稀释法检测SFE-CO₂和HD熏衣草精油对4种细菌和4种真菌的抗菌活性，采用GC-MS技术对其进行化学成分分析。结果：两种提取法的熏衣草精油对测试的所有微生物均具有不同程度抗菌作用，SFE-CO₂萃取物抗细菌与抗真菌作用均较HD精油强，其最低抑菌浓度(MIC)为0.63～3.33 g·L^-1,最低杀菌浓度(MBC/MFC)为1.04～5.00 g·L^-1。GC-MS法分别鉴定出SFE-CO₂和HD精油的34种和29种化合物，其质量分数为出峰物质总量的95.51 %和98.39 %，两者主要成分中乙酸芳樟酯和乙酸薰衣草酯含量相差较大。结论：SFE-CO₂和HD熏衣草精油均对试验菌株有抗菌活性，SFE-CO₂法提取的熏衣草精油抗菌活性较强。     

Antimicrobial activity of essential oil and methanol extracts of Achillea sintenisii Hub. Mor. (Asteraceae)

The essential oil, obtained by Clevenger distillation, and water-soluble and water-insoluble parts of the methanol extracts of Achillea sintenisii Hub. Mor. were individually assayed for their antimicrobial activities against 12 bacteria and two yeasts, Candida albicans and C. krusei. No activity was exhibited by the water-soluble subfraction, whereas both the water-insoluble subfraction of the methanol extracts and the essential oil were found to be active against some test microorganisms studied. Since the essential oil possessed stronger activity than the other extracts tested, it was further fractionated and the fractions were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity, followed by GC-MS analysis, resulting in the identification of 32 compounds which constituted 90.2% of the total oil. The GC-MS analysis of the oil and its fractions revealed that the main components of the oil, e.g. camphor and eucalyptol, possessed appreciable activity against C. albicans and Clostridium perfringens. The fi ndings presented here also suggest that the other constituents of the oil, e.g. borneol and piperitone can also be taken into account for the activity observed.     

Antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Calamintha nepeta and its constituent pulegone against bacteria and fungi

The chemical composition of the essential oil of Calamintha nepeta and its antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus cereus, Salmonella veneziana, S. paratyphi B, S. typhimurium, Fusarium moniliforme, Botrytis cinerea, Aspergillus niger and Pyricularia oryzae have been studied. Moreover the main constituents of the oil (limonene, menthone, pulegone, menthol) have been tested against the same microorganisms. Only pulegone showed antimicrobial activity, particularly against all the Salmonella species. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

墨旱莲挥发油化学成分的研究

 目的研究墨旱莲挥发油的化学组成。方法采用水蒸汽蒸馏提取挥发油,用GC-MS进行成分分析。结果鉴定了37个化合物,占挥发油总量的84.57%。结论墨旱莲挥发油的主要组分为1,5,5,8-四甲基-12-氧双环[9,1,0]十五碳-3,7-双烯(10.82%),6,10,14-三甲基-2-十五酮(9.27%),δ-愈创木烯(7.73%),新二氢香芹醇(7.50%),3,7,11,15-四甲基-2-十六烯-1-醇(6.67%),十六烷酸(5.82%),环氧石竹烯(5.39%),十七烷(5.34%)。     

Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils of different samples of Thymus baeticus boiss

Gas chromatography was used to determine the chemical composition of the essential oil of female and hermaphrodite Thymus baeticus Boiss. collected in Ugijar (province of Granada, Spain). The results were compared with the chemical composition of other samples of the same species, collected in Lanjarón. These comparisons showed some qualitative differences, and more obvious quantitative differences, in the compositions of the essential oils. We also investigated the antimicrobial activity of all samples. This activity, although marked in all samples, was greater in essential oils containing larger amounts of geraniol.     

Composition and antimicrobial activity of Achillea clavennae L. essential oil

The volatile constituents of Achillea clavennae L. (Asteraceae), rare plant of Europe, have been analysed using GC/MS. Twenty- five components making up 81.6% of the oil were characterized with camphor (29.5%), myrcene (5.5%), 1,8-cineole (5.3%), beta-caryophyllene (5.1%) and linalool (4.9%) being the major constituents. The essential oil was evaluated for antibacterial and antifungal activities. The screening of the antimicrobial activity of essential oil was conducted by a disc diffusion test against Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus faecalis), Gram-negative (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis) and fungal organisms (Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus, Candida albicans). The activity was more pronounced against Gram-negative and fungal organisms than against Gram-positive bacteria. A. clavennae oil was found to possess antimicrobial activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and all fungal organisms.     

Chemical composition and antibacterial activities of the essential oil from Abies koreana

The essential oils from an alpine needle leaf of Abies koreana, which is a species native to Korea, was obtained by hydrodistillation with 0.9% (v/w) yield and analysed by GC and GC-MS. Sixty-eight constituents, accounting for more than 95.9% of the total oil composition, were identified. The main compounds with concentrations higher than 3% were borneol (27.9%), alpha-pinene (23.2%), beta-pinene (5.8%), terpinene-4-ol (3.8%), bornyl acetate (3.4%) and alpha-terpineol (3.1%). The antibacterial activity of the oil was evaluated against nine microorganisms using disc diffusion and broth microdilution methods. The essential oil exhibited some broad spectrum antibacterial activity against the tested organisms, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.     

Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils from two species of Eucalyptus

The leaf-essential oil from Eucalyptus robusta and E. saligna, the latter in two phenologic stages, were analysed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The major constituent in E. robusta oil was the monoterpene alpha-pinene (73.0% of the total amount). The oil composition of the E. saligna was dependent of the phenologic stage. In the vegetative phase, the major constituents were p-cymene (54.2%) and gamma-terpinene (43.8%), while during the blossoming alpha-pinene became the major constituent followed by p-cymene (22.5%). Additionally, the antimicrobial activity for all three oils was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. The E. robusta oil presented the highest growth inhibition for all the microorganisms tested.     

Essential oil composition of Piper guineense and its antimicrobial activity. Another chemotype from Nigeria

The analysis of the essential oil of Piper guineense from Nigeria presents a new chemotype of constituents different from earlier reports with the absence of the usual myristicin. Ishwarane, a common constituent of Aristolochia indica and Bixa orellana, was also isolated from the essential oil of the fruit. The essential oil inhibited the growth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa UCH 655 strain at 5 mg/mL on which standard antibiotic drugs were ineffective.     

Composition and antimicrobial activity of Equisetum arvense L. essential oil

The volatile constituents of the sterile stems of Equisetum arvense L. (Equisetaceae) were investigated for the first time using GC, GC/MS and (13)C-NMR. Twenty-five compounds were identified. Hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (18.34%), cis-geranyl acetone (13.74%), thymol (12.09%) and trans-phytol (10.06%) were the major constituents. A disk diffusion method was used for the evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of this oil against a panel of microorganisms (bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella enteritidis; fungi: Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans). The 1:10 dilution of the essential oil of Equisetum arvense L. was shown to possess a broad spectrum of a very strong antimicrobial activity against all tested strains.     

The chemical composition and biological activity of clove essential oil, Eugenia caryophyllata (Syzigium aromaticum L. Myrtaceae): a short review

The essential oil extracted from the dried flower buds of clove, Eugenia caryophyllata L. Merr. & Perry (Myrtaceae), is used as a topical application to relieve pain and to promote healing and also finds use in the fragrance and flavouring industries. The main constituents of the essential oil are phenylpropanoids such as carvacrol, thymol, eugenol and cinnamaldehyde. The biological activity of Eugenia caryophyllata has been investigated on several microorganisms and parasites, including pathogenic bacteria, Herpes simplex and hepatitis C viruses. In addition to its antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal and antiviral activity, clove essential oil possesses antiinflammatory, cytotoxic, insect repellent and anaesthetic properties. This short review addresses the chemical composition and biological effects of clove essential oil, and includes new results from GC/MS analysis and a study of its antimicrobial activity against a large number of multi-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis isolated from dialysis biomaterials.     

透皮促渗中药挥发油的化学成分与中药药性关联性研究

前期研究发现中药挥发油的透皮促渗效果与来源中药的药性存在关联性。化学成分是中药药性的物质基础,该文进一步考察了透皮促渗中药挥发油的化学成分与中药药性之间的关联性。采用水蒸气蒸馏法制备中药挥发油,测定了其相对密度和折光率等理化参数,采用GC-MS分析了20种中药挥发油的组成成分,将其按照骨架特征和官能团的不同分成12种类别,然后通过逐步Logistic回归分析,研究药性与成分类别之间的规律。结果表明,五味、四气以及归经均与挥发油中不同类别的成分存在关联性(P0.05),来源中药药性与挥发油的成分类别存在明显的相关性和规律性。     

Spasmolytic activity of Thymus membranaceus essential oil

The spasmolytic activity of Thymus membranaceus essential oil in the duodenum isolated from rat has been investigated. The qualitative and quantitative composition of the essential oil was studied. The essential oil affects the duodenum in two ways, showing a spasmogenic action (due to 1,8-cineole) and, on the other hand, an antagonistic non-competitive effect against the contractions by acetylcholine (due to the phenols and hydrocarbons).