22.

Composition and Antimicrobial Activity of the Essential Oils from Different Parts of Cachrys cristata DC. from Greece

Aikaterini Koutsaviti, Christina Georgiou, Marina Milenković and Olga Tzakou

Department of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, Faculty of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, University of Athens, Panepistimiopolis Zographou,

157 71 Athens, Greece

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Belgrade Vojvode Stepe 450, 11221 Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract: Fresh leaves, stems and roots of Cachrys cristata, were subjected to hydrodistillation and the oils obtained were analyzed by means of GC and GC-MS. Sixty eight constituents were in total identified, with (Z)- β -ocimene (44.2% and 30.5%) dominating in leaves and stems oils, while the major metabolite of the roots was found to be p-tolualdehyde (39.6%), followed by (Z)- β -ocimene (15.2%). The microbial growth inhibitory properties of the essential oils were determined using the broth microdilution method against seven laboratory strains of bacteria - Gram positive: Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Micrococcus luteus, Еnterococcus faecalis and Gram negative: Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a nd two strains of the yeast Candida albicans. The essential oils exhibited considerable activity against certain strains of the microorganisms tested, with the leaves oil demonstrating higher antimicrobial activity among the tested samples.

Keywords: Antimicrobial activity; chemical composition; essential oil; Cachrys cristata . © 2015 ACG Publications. All rights reserved.