Planta Med 2008; 74 - PI17
DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1084925

Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of essential oils of 3 Helichrysum species

V Kajangwe 1, JC Tomani 1, MJ Mukazayire 1, 2, JC Chalchat 3, P Duez 2
  • 1Institute of Research Science and Technology (I.R.S.T.), Center of Research in Phytomedecine and life Science, B.P. 227 Butare, Rwanda
  • 2Free University of Brussels (ULB), Laboratory of Pharmacognosy, Bromatology and Human Nutrition, Institute of Pharmacy, CP 205–9, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
  • 3Laboratory of Photochemistry, Molecular and Macromolecular, Chemistry of Essential Oils, Blaise Pascal Clermont University, 63177, Aubière Cédex, France

In Rwanda and Burundi, many species of the Helichrysum genus (Asteraceae) are used in traditional folk medicine for treating diarrhea diseases. Helichrysum forskahlii, Helichrysum panduratum and Helichrysum odoratissimum were selected on the basis of ethnobotanical data. The essential oils, obtained from fresh plants by steam distillation, were tested for antibacterial activity by a disc diffusion method against three gram-negative bacteria obtained from clinical isolates: Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi and Shigella flexneri [1]. The chemical composition of the obtained essential oils was determined by GC and GC/MS [2–5]. The major constituents were identified as β-caryophyllene (26.3%), α-humulene (15.3%), δ-3-carene (13.7%), viridiflorene (5.1%) for Helichrysum froskahlii, α-humulene (13.5%), β-caryophyllene (12.6%), (Z)-β-ocimene (10.8%), α-pinene (5.7%), for Helichrysum odoratissimum and germacrene-D (53.2%), β-Caryophyllene (13.29%) for Helichrysum panduratum. The in vitro screening for antibacterial activity showed that only the essential oil from Helichrysum forskahlii presents activity against all tested bacteria (MIC between 0.2 and 0.8mg/ml) whereas the essential oils from Helichrysum panduratum and Helichrysum odoratissimum did not show any activity on tested bacteria.

References: 1. Williams, LR., Home, VN. (1998) International Journal of Aromatherapy 8:30–40. 2. Dool, VD., Krats, PD. (1963)J.Chromatogr.11:463–471. 3. McLafferty, FW.,Stauffer, D.B. (1989)The Wiley NBS registry of Mass Spectral Data.2nd Edition. J. Wiley and Son. NY. 4. Adams, RP. (2001) Identification of Essential Oil Components by Gas chromatrography/Quadrupole Mass Spectroscopy. Allured Publishing corp., Carol stream, IL. 5. Joulain, D., König WA. (1998) The Atlas of Spectral Data of Sesquiterpene Hydrocarbons. E.B. Verlag, Hamburg.