Antimicrobial essential oil of Origanum boissieri Ietswaart

Abstract

Apart from being a popular spice, Origanum species is very important taxa as an herbal medicine for theirseveral pharmacological activities. Essential oils of Origanum species bearing phenolic monoterpenoids such ascarvacrol and thymol demonstrated strong antimicrobial properties. In the present study hydrodistilled essential oil ofendemic species Origanum boissieri Ietswaart were analysed by GC and GC/MS techniques simultaneously. Thirtycompounds representing 95.1 % of the total oil were identified. Carvacrol (39%) and p-cymene (32%) were detected asthe main components of the oil. Total methanol extract and essential oil of the flowering aerial parts of the plant withthe carvacrol and p-cymene were screened for its antibacterial and anticandidal properties by using microdilution brothassay. Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphlylococcus epidermidis and Listeria monocytogenes werestrongly inhibited by the oil between the concentrations of 15,6 - 62.5 µg/mL. O. boissieri extract and the oil showedmoderate effects against all tested Candida strains having MIC values of 125-1000 µg/mL.