Antibacterial and Anti-biofilm Activities of Essential Oils and Their Components

ZUNINO MP; OMARINI A; PIZZOLITO RP; DAMBOLENA JS; ZYGADLO JA; MERLO C

Essential oils and nanotechnology for the cure of microbial diseases

Springer

Año: 2017; p. 99 - 126

Essential Oils (EOs) are mixtures of monoterpenes (MT), sesquiterpenes (ST) and/or phenylpropanoids (PhP) (Zygadlo 2011, Raut and Karuppayil 2014), with MT and ST being biosynthesized from mevalonate and/or deoxyxylulose (methyl D-erythritol 4-phosphate) pathways, while PhP come from a biosynthetic route of sikimic acid. The chemical diversity of EOs is high with aliphatic, cyclic andbicyclic structures, and is increased with the presence of different functional groups such as hydroxyls, carbonyls, carboxyls or esteres (Sell 2010, Zygadlo 2011). The great variety of bioactivities and the many mechanisms of action or targets are associated with the large molecular diversity of EOs (Koroch et al. 2007, Franz 2010, Sadgrove et al. 2015). In fact, several botanical families produce EOs, for examples Zingiberaceae, Rutaceae, Poaceae, Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Geraniaceae, Lamiaceae, Lauraceae, Myrtaceae, Pinaceae, Piperaceae, Verbenaceae and Santalaceae, with the EOs being biosynthetized and stored in special structures, such as glandular hairs or esquizogene channels (Franz2010, Zygadlo 2011, Raut and Karuppayil 2014).