Proposals for Antimicrobial Testing Guidelines Applied on Ajowan and Spanish Lavender Essential Oils.

To fight the rising resistance of microorganisms to antibiotics, a strategy followed by several researchers is to focus on natural compounds, such as essential oils, as a source of potent antibacterial compounds. These last decades, hundreds of original papers have been written about microbiological assays that prove the antibacterial activity of essential oils and their use in the medical field. But can we really compare all the data available in the literature when the raw material, the microbiological assays, and/or the strains are different from one article to another? This review will point out the differences and the inadequate practices found in published articles that tested 2 lesser-studied essential oils-Spanish lavender and the ajowan-by the broth dilution method against , a human pathogenic bacterium.

Antibacterial and Cytotoxic Activities of Ten Commercially Available Essential Oils.

There is a huge concern in the medical field concerning the emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Essential oils are a source of antibacterial compounds that can overcome this problem. Ten essential oils that are commercially available were investigated in the present study: ajowan, basil, German chamomile, Chinese cinnamon, coriander, clove, lemongrass, Spanish lavender, oregano and palmarosa.

In Vitro Antibacterial Activity of Essential Oils against Streptococcus pyogenes.

Streptococcus pyogenes plays an important role in the pathogenesis of tonsillitis. The present study was conducted to evaluate the in vitro antibacterial activities of 18 essential oils chemotypes from aromatic medicinal plants against S. pyogenes.

Investigation of the mutagenic and antimutagenic effects of Origanum compactum essential oil and some of its constituents.

In the present study, the chemical composition of Origanum compactum essential oil was determined by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, and its mutagenic and antimutagenic activities were investigated by the somatic mutation and recombination test (SMART) in Drosophila melanogaster. No significant increase in the number of somatic mutations was observed with the essential oil tested using both the standard (ST) and high bio-activation (HB) cross. In order to investigate the antimutagenic effect of the essential oil, we have tested the effect on the indirect-acting mutagen urethane (URE), as well as the direct-acting mutagen methyl methanesulfonate (MMS).

Antigenotoxic effects of three essential oils in diploid yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) after treatments with UVC radiation, 8-MOP plus UVA and MMS.

Essential oils (EOs) extracted from medicinal plants such as Origanum compactum, Artemisia herba alba and Cinnamomum camphora are known for their beneficial effects in humans. The present study was undertaken to investigate their possible antigenotoxic effects in an eukaryotic cell system, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The EOs alone showed some cytotoxicity and cytoplasmic petite mutations, i.

Genotoxicity and antigenotoxicity of some essential oils evaluated by wing spot test of Drosophila melanogaster.

Essential oils extracted from the three medicinal plants; Helichrysum italicum, Ledum groenlandicum and Ravensara aromatica, together with their mixture were tested for their genotoxic and antigenotoxic activities against urethane, a well-known promutagen. We have adopted the somatic mutations and recombination test (SMART) in the wings of Drosophila melanogaster. Three days old larvae, trans-heterozygous for two genetic markers mwh and flr, were treated by essential oil and/or urethane.