Antibacterial activity of essential oils obtained from leaves and fruits of a native plant from South America Schinus areira

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

Krakow

Congreso; 5th Central European Congress of Life Sciences, EUTOBIOTECH 2013; 2013

University of Agriculture in Krakow-Jagiellonian University in Krakow-Cracow University of Technology-Cracow University of Technology-FB-PAN-Ma 322;opolska Center of Biotechnology-Targi w Krakowie Ltd

The aim of this work was to characterize the antibacterial activity of essential oils ( EOs) isolated from leaves and fruits of S. areira trees with different chemical profile. EOs were obtained by distillation of dried leaves and fruits and their chemical composition were determined by gas chromatography (GC)/FID and GC/MS as previously described. A microplate bioassay for quick and sensitive determination of antibacterial activity was used. The antibacterial activity was assayed against the human pathogenic bacteria Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and against a methicillin-resistant S. aureus strain (MRSA). Results showed that the EO isolated from fruits and leaves showed high antibacterial effect on S. aureus. The inhibitory effect of both fractions on the bacterial growth decreases with increasing dilutions, demonstrating direct proportionality between concentrations of components and the antibacterial activity. The EO of fruits have a greater inhibitory effect than the leaves. Notably, the S. areira oil was able to inhibit the bacterial growth of SAMR strain, which caused a large number of deaths in hospitalized patients every year worldwide. The minimal inhibition concentrations obtained for fruits and leaves were from 3.2 μL/mL to 15.0 μL/mL. In conclusion, our findings demonstrated the potential use of the oils against Staphylococcal infections.