title: Essential oils--their antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and effect on intestinal cell viability.
abstract: Essential oils are known to possess antimicrobial activity against a wide spectrum of bacteria. The main objective of this study was to evaluate possible harmful effects of four commonly used essential oils and their major components on intestinal cells. Antimicrobial activity of selected plant extracts against enteroinvasive Escherichia coli was dose dependent. However, doses of essential oils with the ability to completely inhibit bacterial growth (0.05%) showed also relatively high cytotoxicity to intestinal-like cells cultured in vitro. Lower doses of essential oils (0.01%) had only partial antimicrobial activity and their damaging effect on Caco-2 cells was only modest. Cell death assessment based on morphological and viability staining followed by fluorescence microscopy showed that essential oils of cinnamon and clove and their major component eugenol had almost no cytotoxic effect at lower doses. Although essential oil of oregano and its component carvacrol slightly increased the incidence of apoptotic cell death, they showed extensive antimicrobial activity even at lower concentrations. Relatively high cytotoxicity was demonstrated by thyme oil, which increased both apoptotic and necrotic cell death incidence. In contrast, its component thymol showed no cytotoxic effect as well as greatly-reduced ability to inhibit visible growth of the chosen pathogen in the doses used. On the other hand, the addition of all essential oils and their components at lower doses, with the exception of thyme oil, to bacterial suspension significantly reduced the cytotoxic effect of E. coli on Caco-2 cells after 1h culture. In conclusion, it is possible to find appropriate doses of essential oils showing both antimicrobial activity and very low detrimental effect on intestinal cells.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Animal Physiology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Soltésovej 4-6, 04001 Kosice, Slovakia. fabian@saske.sk
authors.forename: Dusan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fabian
authors.forename: Fabian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dusan
authors.forename: Marián
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sabol
authors.forename: Sabol
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marián
authors.forename: Katarína
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Domaracká
authors.forename: Domaracká
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Katarína
authors.forename: Dobroslava
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bujnáková
authors.forename: Bujnáková
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dobroslava
mesh_terms: D018938:Caco-2 Cells; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D003106:Colon / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D007422:Intestines / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D009822:Oils, Volatile