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SUMMARY
Essential oils are complex isolated mixtures of aromatic plants which may possess antioxidant
and anti-inflammatory activities of interest in the food and cosmetic industries as well as in the
field of human health (1). About 100 pure components of essential oils have been tested For its
antioxidant effectiveness. The main classes of compounds are monoterpene hydrocarbons,
oxygenated monoterpenes, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated sesquiterpenes, benzene
derivatives and non-isoprenoid components comprising alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, which are
the most common constituents of essential oils (2). This work will establish the antioxidant and
antimicrobial activity of essential oils, taking into consideration that "essential oils are liquid
mixtures of volatile compounds obtained from aromatic plants.(3) Many oils have antioxidant
properties, and the common use of these Oils is of natural antioxidants is a field of growing
interest, since some synthetic antioxidants like BHA and BHT are now suspected to be potentially
harmful to human health. The evaluation of the antioxidant behavior of essential oils is,
however, a crucial issue, many commonly used "tests" are inappropriate and give contradictory
results that may mislead future research. The chemistry has explained the antioxidant activity
of essential oils discussed together with an analysis of the potential in food protection. (3) As a
recent study regarding its antimicrobial property, essential oils obtained from two species of
mint, Mentha pulegium and Mentha spicata, showed antimicrobial properties against eight
strains of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The essential oils of these mint species at
high concentration (1/100 dilution) were extremely bactericidal, while lower concentrations
(1/1000) caused a dose-dependent decrease in bacterial growth rates. The main components of
p-mentane from the tested essential oils showed a varying degree of antimicrobial activity not
only between different bacterial strains but also between different strains of the same
bacterium. (4) Analytical methods to evaluate the antioxidant performance of essential oils Are
critically reviewed.
INTRODUCCIN
Essential oils derived from many plants are known to possess antifungalinsecticidal , and
antimicrobial activities. Among them are the Origanum essential oils which are widely used in
the flavoring of food products and alcoholic beverages. Members of the genus Origanum are
often characterized by the existence of chemical differences, with respect to both essential oil
content and composition. As a result, the total (crystallizable and noncrystallizable) phenol
content of their essential oils ranges from traces up to 95%, even between plants of the same
species. (5)The preponderance of carvacrol (noncrystallizable phenol) or thymol (crystallizable
phenol) in their essential oils is responsible for their commercial classification as oregano or
thyme oil, respectively. The variation in the chemical composition of Origanum essential oils
is likely to have a bearing on the level of their antimicrobial properties. In this paper we report
on a comparative study of the antimicrobial properties of three representative Origanum
essential oils and their main chemical constituents. Los aceites esenciales son mezclas lquidas
de compuestos voltiles obtenidos de plantas aromticas, ms comnmente por destilacin con
vapor.(3) Constituyen lo que se llama la "esencia" de una planta y suelen tener fragancias
agradablemente perfumadas. Las plantas aromticas y los aceites esenciales se han utilizado
durante milenios para sus beneficios para la salud. Algunas de las propiedades beneficiosas, por
ejemplo, antispticas, antioxidantes y antiinflamatorias, han sido apoyadas por investigaciones
cientficas recientes. Se han identificado cientos de compuestos (metabolitos secundarios) con
puntos de ebullicin relativamente bajos en aceites esenciales y la gran diversidad qumica de
sus constituyentes influye en la estabilidad oxidativa de los aceites. Por otra parte, se han
atribuido a varios aceites esenciales buenas propiedades antioxidantes, que pueden ser
explotadas para proteger otros materiales, como los alimentos, de la rancidez. Las propiedades
antioxidantes desempean tambin un papel fundamental en algunas de las actividades
biolgicas de los aceites, lo que se justifica por la implicacin del estrs oxidativo en la
patologa.(3) Estos atributos se deben a la capacidad inherente de algunos de sus componentes,
en particular los fenoles, de detener o retrasar la oxidacin aerbica de la materia orgnica,
aunque el procedimiento por el cual el aceite se obtiene de la materia prima El material
(destilacin) limita el contenido de compuestos fenlicos en la matriz final porque muchos de
estos compuestos son no voltiles. Sin embargo, hay aceites esenciales libres de fenol que
expresan comportamiento antioxidante. Como se analizar en las secciones siguientes, esto se
debe a la qumica radical de algunos terpenoides y otros componentes voltiles (por ejemplo,
componentes que contienen azufre del ajo) .La bsqueda de antioxidantes naturales con la
virtud de no ser txicos ha dado lugar a Un gran nmero de estudios sobre el potencial
antioxidante de los OE. Esto es particularmente relevante porque se sospecha que los
antioxidantes sintticos ms comunes (como el hidroxianisol butilado (BHA) o el
butilhidroxitolueno (BHT)) son potencialmente dainos para la salud humana. Por otra parte, los
informes sobre las propiedades antioxidantes de los OE de diferentes cientficos Campos de
trabajo o de diferentes laboratorios son a veces contradictorios,
Diversos contextos experimentales, lo que dificulta cualquier comparacin entre los resultados.
Algunos de los mtodos utilizados para evaluar el desempeo antioxidante de las OE se deben
a limitaciones que, si no se abordan adecuadamente, pueden comprometer la importancia de
los resultados. El objetivo de esta revisin no es realizar un estudio exhaustivo de la literatura,
sino analizar la qumica y los mecanismos que sirven de base a la actividad antioxidante de los
OE, poniendo de relieve su potencial y utilidad, con especial atencin a su aplicacin para la
proteccin de los alimentos. Los mtodos utilizados para evaluar su desempeo antioxidante
sern revisados crticamente, y los argumentos para la seleccin de los mtodos ms apropiados
sern discutidos, sobre la base de la experiencia desarrollada en nuestros grupos.
Plant Material. The aerial parts of O. scabrum were collected during the flowering stage in July
1999 on Mount Taygetos in South Peloponissos, where it is endemic; O. microphyllum was
collected during the same period on Mount Dhikti on the island of Crete. Both collection
locations were at an altitude of 1200 m. Voucher specimens are kept at the Herbarium of the
Pharmacognosy Laboratory, University of Athens. Isolation of the Essential Oils. The fresh aerial
parts of these plants were steam distilled for 3 h according to the method found in ref 9, and
the resulting oils collected were dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, preserved in sealed flasks,
and stored at 4-6 C until the moment of analysis. Gas Chromatography)Mass Spectrometry (GC-
MS). The chemical composition of the essential oils was analyzed using GC and GC-MS
techniques. The identification of the components was based on the comparison of their mass
spectra with those of Wiley275, NBS (10), and NST Libraries and those described by Adams , as
well as by comparison of their retention indices with literature values . The mass spectrometer
employed for GC-MS analysis was an HP 5973 mass selective detector in the electron impact (EI)
ionization mode (70 eV). A Hewlett-Packard 6890 gas chromatograph was employed under the
following conditions: capillary column, HP-5 MS (30 m 0.25 mm; film thickness ) 0.25 m);
temperature program, 60 C (held for 5 min) raised to 280 C at a rate of 3 C/min; injector
temperature, 200 C; carrier gas, helium, at flow rate of 0.6 mL/min. Retention indices (RI) have
been obtained according to the method of Van den Dool (12). Antimicrobial Strains and Media.
The antibacterial activity of the essential oils against the two Gram-positive bacteria
Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 12228) and the four
Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), Enterobacter cloacae (ATCC 13047),
Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 13883), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 227853) and the
antifungal activities against the pathogenic fungi Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, and
Torulopsis glabrata were determined, using the dilution technique (13). The culture medium
used for bacteria was Mu ller-Hinton agar, whereas Sabouraud agar was used for growing the
fungi. The incubation conditions used were 24 h at 37 C for the bacteria and 48 h at 28 C for
the fungi. These particular strains were standard reference ones (of the American Type Culture
Collection) that are routinely used for the evaluation of antimicrobial compounds.
1. Miguel MG. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of essential oils: a short
review. Molecules. 2010 Dec 15;15(12):9252-87. PubMed PMID: 21160452.
2. <ruberto2000.pdf>.
3. Amorati R, Foti MC, Valgimigli L. Antioxidant activity of essential oils. Journal of
agricultural and food chemistry. 2013 Nov 20;61(46):10835-47. PubMed PMID: 24156356.
4. <fulltext-18.pdf>.
5. <sivropoulou1996.pdf>.