Antimicrobial activity of three Lamiaceae essential oils against common oral pathogens

Abstract

Chemical composition, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities of commercial essential oils ' samples from the aerial plant parts of H. officinalis, R. officinalis and S. officinalis were investigated. Analyses by GC-FID and GC-MS confirmed 52 oil components. The major constituent of the H. officinalis oil was cis-pinocamphone (34.4%), followed by trans- pinocamphone (23.3%), and β-pinene (11.3%). Analysis of R. officinalis oil revealed 1.8-cineol as a major constituent (43.8%), as well as trans- pinocamphone (12.5%), α-pinene (11.5%) and β-pinene (8.2%). The most dominant constituent of S. officinalis oil was cis-thujone (32.7%), in addition to camphor (17.2%), 1.8-cineol (10.1%), α-pinene (8.6%), trans- thujone (7.7%) and camphene (7.3%). The essential oil antimicrobial activity assay was performed by the use of microdilution method against oral Candida spp. and bacteria, the major causative agents of a number of human oral disorders; all of them were susceptible to tested concentrations of H. officinalis, R. officinalis and S. officinalis essential oils, although the oil of S. officinalis exhibited the lowest antimicrobial potential. The results obtained in this study encourage use of investigated essential oils from Lamiaceae family in development of safe natural agents for prevention and/ or alternative therapy of human oral diseases. However, a special care during development of an effective natural preparation is required.