Abstract
Litsea cubeba oil is extracted from the fresh fruits of Litsea cubeba by distillation. In this study, its chemical constituents, antibacterial activity, kinetics and effects against Escherichia coli were studied. Its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) were both 0.125% (v/v) by toxic food method. Moreover, the antibacterial kinetic curves indicated 0.0625% (v/v) of litsea cubeba oil was able to prolong the growth lag phase of E. coli cells to approximate 12 hours while 0.125% (v/v) of litsea cubeba oil was able to kill the cells completely. Furthermore, transmission electron microscope (TEM) observation showed most E. coli cells treated with 0.125% (v/v) of litsea cubeba oil were killed or destroyed severely within 2 hours. The litsea cubeba oil might penetrate and destroy the outer and inner membrane of E. coli cells. Thus many holes and gaps were observed on the damaged cells, which led to their death eventually. The antibacterial effects of litsea cubeba oil mainly attributed to the presence of aldehydes, which accounted for approximately 70% in its whole components analyzed by GC/MS. Based on the antimicrobial properties, litsea cubeba oil would have a broad application in the antimicrobial industry.
Highlights
Essential oils are aromatic oily liquids obtained from some aromatic plant materials by distillation, squeeze, and solvent extraction [1,2,3]
Antimicrobial activity of essential oils is closely related to their compositions, depending mainly on the functional groups
Previous study had been shown that the antimicrobial activity can be ranked from high to low as: phenols . cinnamic aldehyde . alcohols . aldehydes = ketones . ethers . hydrocarbons [20]
Summary
Essential oils are aromatic oily liquids obtained from some aromatic plant materials by distillation, squeeze, and solvent extraction [1,2,3]. Due to their efficient antifungal and antibacterial activity [4,5,6,7], essential oils have been widely used in cosmetic, sanitary, and agricultural and food industries [8]. The composition of essential oils from the plant can differ in harvesting seasons and geographical sources [12], [13]. It is necessary to further study their antimicrobial efficacy and mechanism for the widespread application of essential oils
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