Screening of the Potential Bioactivities of Pennyroyal ( L.) Essential Oil.

Increasing resistance of pathogens towards conventional antibiotics presents a major threat to public health because it reduces the effectiveness of antibiotic treatment. L., also known as pennyroyal, is an aromatic herb that belongs to the family Lamiaceae. Its essential oil has been traditionally used in medicine, aromatherapy, and cosmetics. The purpose of this work was to study the chemical composition of a pennyroyal essential oil and to evaluate their bioactivities, specifically, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-, and anti-inflammatory. A special focus was given to the antibacterial activity of the essential oil against . The chemical composition of the essential oil was studied by GC-MS/GC-FID. The DPPH free radical scavenging assay and the β-carotene/linoleic acid system were used to evaluate the antioxidant properties. The antimicrobial and anti- activities were evaluated by disk diffusion assays and complemented with optical microscopy observations. The results showed that pulegone was the major compound (88.64%) of the pennyroyal essential oil. Regarding the antimicrobial activity, the action against stands out, which, together with the capacity of the essential oil to inhibit the mechanisms, may suggest the use of the pennyroyal essential oil to further develop surface disinfectants for hospitals.