Chemical Composition and Antibacterial Activity of Artemisia campestris ssp. glutinosa (J. Gay) Batt. and A. judaïca ssp. sahariensis (Chev.) Species Endemic to the Algerian Sahara

Abstract

This study focused on two plant species endemic to the Algerian Sahara: Artemisia campestris ssp. glutinosa (J. Gay) Batt. and Artemisia judaïca ssp. sahariensis (Chev.). The aim of this work was to determine their chemical composition for a better insight into their traditional use and to evaluate the antibacterial potential of the essential oils of their leafy stems on 8 different bacterial strains. The analysis revealed that these two Artemisia species contain, respectively, 14.5 ± 0.40% and 11.4 ± 0.45% of total nitrogenous matter, 17.7 ± 0.34% and 33.7 ± 0.49% of crude fiber, 9.5 ± 0.82% and 8.5 ± 0.79% of mineral matter. Moreover, the results showed that the essential oils of Artemisia campestris ssp. Glutinosa contained α-pinene (8.83 ± 1.02%), β-pinene (28.94 ± 1.16%), limonene (8.51 ± 0.19%), α-thujone (0.18 ± 0.06%), β-thujone (0.67 ± 0.15%) and camphor (0.86 ± 0.02%). These essential oils also showed a high inhibitory activity on the growth of Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus S. On the other hand, the essential oils of Artemisia judaïca ssp. sahariensis mainly contained piperitone (65.88 ± 6.12%), davanone (12.58 ± 5.81%) and thymol (0.56 ± 0.06%) and they exhibited an inhibitory activity on Pseudomonas aeruginosa S, Proteus mirabilis and Klebseilla pneumoniae. These results demonstrated the inhibitory activity of Artemisia's essential oils against certain human pathogens and thus they showed the great interest of studying Artemisia species for the scientific and medical community.