Antimicrobial Activity of Oil-Loaded Agarose/Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Hydrogel for Bio-Applications.

In this study, the potential use of essential oil in bio-applications was investigated. Firstly, the phytochemicals from were analyzed by different methods. Secondly, the essential oil was incorporated into the hydrogel matrix based on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and agar (A). The structural, morphological, and physical properties of the hydrogel matrix loaded with different amounts of essential oil were thoroughly investigated. FTIR analysis revealed the successful loading of the essential oil into the PVA/A hydrogel matrix. The influence of the mechanical properties and antimicrobial activity of the PVA/A hydrogel matrix loaded with different amounts of was also assessed. The antimicrobial activity of (EO ) essential oil was tested using the disk diffusion method and the time-kill assay method after entrapment in the PVA/A hydrogel matrices. The results showed that PVA/agar-based hydrogels loaded with EO exhibited significant antimicrobial activity (log reduction ratio in the range of 85.5111-100%) against nine pathogenic isolates, both Gram-positive (, , , ) and Gram-negative (, , , , and ). The resulted biocompatible polymers proved to have enhanced properties when functionalized with the essential oil of , offering opportunities and possibilities for novel applications.