Mandarin essential oils inhibit quorum sensing and virulence factors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

MARÍA CONSTANZA LUCIARDI; MARÍA AMPARO BL
AZQUEZ ; ELENA CARTAGENA ; BARDON ALICIA DEL VALLE; MARIO EDUARDO ARENA

LWT - Food Science and Technology

Elsevier

Año: 2016 vol. 68 p. 373 - 380

Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces biofilm and several virulence factors coordinated by quorum sensing(QS) in food. The interruption of QS is a target to control the bacterial virulence. Chemical preservativesused to control biofilm give rise to several food safety problems. For this reason, essential oils (EOs),generally recognized as safe products, are a hopeful alternative. The aim of this work was to determinethe chemical composition of mandarin EOs obtained by cold-pressing (EOP) and cold-pressing followedby steam distillation (EOPD) and their antipathogenic properties against P. aeruginosa. Both EOs containedthe highest quantities of monoterpene hydrocarbons, mainly limonene, followed by g-terpinene,myrcene and a-pinene. Although the EOs were not able to inhibit the bacterial growth at 4 mg/mL, EOPand EOPD significantly inhibited the P. aeruginosa biofilm formation at 0.1 mg/mL. In addition to the EOsinhibited biofilm cell viability (41%), AHL production (33%) and resulted in higher than 75% reduction inelastase enzyme activity. In conclusion, Citrus reticulata EOs are suitable alternatives to chemical additivesfor general use in the food industry.