The inhibition of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by essential oils isolated from leaves and fruits of Schinus areira depending on their chemical compositions

LILIANA CELAYA; MARTA ALABRUDZINSKA; ANA CRISTINA MOLINA; CARMEN INES VITURRO; SILVIA MORENO

ACTA BIOCHIMICA POLONICA

ACTA BIOCHIMICA POLONICA

Lugar: Warszawa, Poland ; Año: 2014 vol. 61 p. 41 - 47

0001-527X

Schinus areira L. is a native plant from South America used for centuries in traditional medicine. Here, we investigate the antimicrobial activity of four essential oils extracted from leaves and fruits of S. areira exhibiting different chemical profiles. The ntibacterial activity against the human pathogenic bacteria Staphylococcus aureus susceptible as well as methicillin resistant strain was assessed by the broth microdilution assay. The results showed that the limonene-rich oil extracted from the leaves and fruits have potent antibacterial effect on S. aureus ATCC 25923, while the α-phellandrene-rich fruit oil having a lower content of limonene showed the lowest antibacterial efficacy. In this work, for the first time, we demonstrated the bactericidal activity of essential oils isolated from fruits and leaves of S. areira against susceptible and methicillin resistant S. aureus strains. All results point out the potential use of the S. areira oils as antimicrobial agents to be used, at least against Staphylococcal infections.