Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of Essential Oil of Wild-Growing Salvia officinalis L. from Montenegro

Abstract

The essential oil composition of wild-growing Salvia officinalis L. (Lamiaceae) from Montenegro was analysed by GC-FID and GC-MS and its antimicrobial activity tested at different oil concentrations. Twenty-five compounds were identified in the essential oil, with major components: α-thujone (29.50%), camphor (22.52%) and 1,8-cineole (12.19%). The amount of several minor compounds in the essential oil was also significant: camphene (5.35%), borneol (4.43%) and limonene (4.21%). Sixteen different microorganisms were used in this study as test organisms, including four reference ATCC strains and twelve clinically isolated strains. These included human pathogens, food poisoning and spoilage bacteria and the blastomycete opportunistic yeast Candida albicans. Results showed that the sage essential oil exhibited a significant antibacterial and antifungal activity. The most sensitive strain was Staphyloccocus aureus, and of Gram-negative species even at the lowest concentration of oil, Providencia stuartii was the most sensitive. The origin of the bacterial strain and the fact of being Gram-positive or Gram-negative appeared to have little influence on the sensitivity of the oil; in general all the bacteria, except Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella enteridis, were susceptible in various degrees to the different concentration of sage essential oil. Noteworthy is significant activity of sage essential oil against clinically isolated bacterial strains and yeast C. albicans.