Comparative Study of Composition, Antioxidant, and Antimicrobial Activities of Essential Oils of Selected Aromatic Plants from Balkan Peninsula

The objective of the present study to perform a comparative analysis of the chemical composition, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities of the essential oils of plant species Hyssopus officinalis, Achillea grandifolia, Achillea crithmifolia, Tanacetum parthenium, Laserpitium latifolium, and Artemisia absinthium from Balkan Peninsula. The chemical analysis of essential oils was performed by using gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Monoterpenes were dominant among the recorded components, with camphor in T. parthenium, A.grandifolia, and A. crithmifolia (51.4, 45.4, and 25.4%, respectively), 1,8-cineole in H. officinalis, A.grandifolia, and A.crithmifolia (49.1, 16.4, and 14.8%, respectively), and sabinene in L. latifolium and A. absinthium (47.8 and 21.5%). The antiradical and antioxidant activities were determined by using 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging methods. The essential oil of A.grandifolia has shown the highest antioxidant activity [IC50 of 33.575 +/- 0.069mg/mL for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and 2.510 +/- 0.036mg vitamin C/g for the 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) assay]. The antimicrobial activity against 16 multiresistant pathogenic bacteria isolated from human source material was tested by the broth microdilution assay. The resulting minimum inhibitory concentration/minimum bactericidal concentration values ranged from 4.72 to 93.2mg/mL. Therefore, the essential oils of the plant species included in this study may be considered to be prospective natural sources of antimicrobial substances, and may contribute as effective agents in the battle against bacterial multiresistance.