Subscribe to RSS
DOI: 10.1055/s-2003-39704
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York
Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Three Mentha Species Essential Oils
Publication History
Received: September 3, 2002
Accepted: December 14, 2002
Publication Date:
12 June 2003 (online)
![](https://www.thieme-connect.de/media/plantamedica/200305/lookinside/thumbnails/10.1055-s-2003-39704-1.jpg)
Abstract
The present study describes the antimicrobial activity and free radical scavenging capacity (RSC) of essential oils from Mentha aquatica L., Mentha longifolia L., and Mentha piperita L. The chemical profile of each essential oil was determined by GC-MS and TLC. All essential oils exhibited very strong antibacterial activity, in particularly against Esherichia coli strains. The most powerful was M. piperita essential oil, especially towards multiresistant strain of Shigella sonei and Micrococcus flavus ATTC 10 240. All tested oils showed significant fungistatic and fungicidal activity [expressed as minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal fungicidal concentration (MFC) values, respectively], that were considerably higher than those of the commercial fungicide bifonazole. The essential oils of M. piperita and M. longifolia were found to be more active than the essential oil of M. aquatica. Especially low MIC (4 μL/mL) and MFC (4 μL/mL) were found with M. piperita oil against Trichophyton tonsurans and Candida albicans (both 8 μL/mL). The RSC was evaluated by measuring the scavenging activity of the essential oils on the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and OH radicals. All examined essential oils were able to reduce DPPH radicals into the neutral DPPH-H form, and this activity was dose-dependent. However, only the M. piperita oil reduced DPPH to 50 % (IC50 = 2.53 μg/mL). The M. piperita essential oil also exhibited the highest OH radical scavenging activity, reducing OH radical generation in the Fenton reaction by 24 % (pure oil). According to GC-MS and TLC (dot-blot techniques), the most powerful scavenging compounds were monoterpene ketones (menthone and isomenthone) in the essential oils of M. longifolia and M. piperita and 1,8-cineole in the oil of M. aquatica.
Key words
Mentha aquatica - Mentha longifolia - Mentha piperita - Lamiaceae - essential oils - GC-MS - antimicrobial activity - free radical scavenging capacity - DPPH radical - OH radical
References
- 1 Safer A M, Al-Nughamish A J. Hepatotoxicity induced by the antioxidant food additive butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) in rats: An electron microscopical study. Histol Histopathol. 1999; 197 391-406
- 2 Smith M A, Perry G, Pryor W A. Causes and consequences of oxidative stress in Alzheimer’s disease (1,2). Free Radic Biol Med. 2002; 32 1049
- 3 Van de Vijver L P, Kardinaal A F, Grobbe D E, Princen H M, van Poppel G. Lipoprotein oxidation, antioxidants and cardiovascular risk: epidemiologic evidence. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids. 1997; 57 479-87
- 4 Baratta M T, Damien Dorman H J, Deans S G. Chemical composition, antimicrobial and antioxidative activity of laurel, sage, rosemary, oregano and coriander essential oils. J Essent Oil Res. 1998; 10 618-27
- 5 Lis-Balchin M, Deans S G. Bioactivity of selected plant essential oils against Listeria monocytogenes . J Appl Microbiol. 1997; 82 759-62
- 6 Adam D. Global antibiotic resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae . J Antimicrob Chemother. 2002; 50 ( 1) 1-5
- 7 European P harmacopeia, 4th e dition. Council of Europe. Strasbourg Cedex, France 2002 2.8.12: 183-4
- 8 Rios J L. Screening methods for natural products with antimicrobial activity: a review of the literature. J. Ethnopharmacol. 1988; 23 127-49
-
9 Van den Berghe D A, Vlietinck A J. Screening Methods for Antibacterial and Antiviral Agents from Higher Plants. In: Hostettman K, editor
Methods in Plant Biochemistry, Vol. 6, Assays for Bioactivity . London, San Diego, New York, Boston, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto; Academic Press 1991: pp. 47-69 - 10 Hanel H, Raether W. A more sophisticated method of determining the fungicidal effect of water-insoluble preparations with a cell harvester, using miconazole as an example. Mycoses. 1988; 31 148-54
- 11 Daouk K D, Dagher M S, Sattout J E. Antifungal activity of the essential oil of Origanum syriacum L. J Food Prot. 1995; 58 1147-9
- 12 Espin J C, Soler-Rivas C, Wichers H J. Characterisation of the total free radical scavenger capacity of vegetable oils and oil fractions using 2,2-diphenyl-1-pirylhydrazyl radical. J Agric Food Chem. 2000; 48 648-56
- 13 Halliwell B, Gutteridge J MC, Aruoma O I. The deoxyribose method: a simple ‘test-tube’ assay for determination of rate constants for reaction of hydroxyl radicals. Anal Biochem. 1987; 165 215-9
- 14 Mimica-Dukic N, Gasic O, Kite G, Fellow L, Jancic R. A study of the essential oil of Mentha longifolia growing in Yugoslavia. Planta Med. 1991; 57 ( Issue 2) A83-4
- 15 Mimica-Dukic N, Husain S Z, Jancic R, Gasic O, Loukis A, Khan M B. Composition and variation of essential oil constituents in three Mentha L. (Labiatae) species in Yugoslavia. Pak J Bot. 1991; 23 243-8
- 16 Sivropoulou A, Kokkini S, Lanaras T, Arsenakis M. Antimicrobial activity of mint essential oils. J Agric Food Chem. 1995; 43 2384-8
- 17 Tassou C C, Drosinos E H, Nychas G JE. Effects of essential oil from mint (Mentha piperita) on Salmonella enteritidis and Listeria monocytogenes in model food systems at 4 and 10 °C. J Appl Bact. 1995; 78 593-600
- 18 Hammer K A, Carson C F, Riley T V. Antimicrobial activity of essential oils and other plant extracts. J Appl Microbiol. 1999; 86 955-90
- 19 Lee S E, Lee H S, Ahn Y J. Scavenging effect of pant-derived materials on free radicals and active oxygen species. Agric Chem Biotechnol. 1999; 42 40-4
- 20 Ruberto G, Baratta M T. Antioxidant activity of selected essential oil components in two lipid model systems. Food Chemistry. 2000; 69 167-74
Prof. Dr. Neda Mimica-Dukić
University of Novi Sad
Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Department of Chemistry
Trg D. Obradovica 3
21000 Novi Sad
FR Yugoslavia
Email: mimica@ih.ns.ac.yu, dukaned@eunet.yu
Fax: +381-21-54065
Phone: +381-21-350122/978