A study on the antimicrobial activity of thymol intended as a natural preservative.
A quantitative investigation on the inhibitory activity of thymol against some microorganisms that could represent a potential spoilage risk both in acid and mild thermally treated foods is presented in this work. In order to assess potential biostatic or biocidal activity of thymol, both the growth kinetics and dose-response profiles were obtained and analyzed. A suitable macrodilution methodology based on a turbidimetric technique was adopted to produce inhibitory data used for characterizing microbial susceptibility against thymol at sub-MIC levels. Microbial growth was monitored through absorbance measurements at 420 nm as a function of contact time with the active compound. Moreover, for each tested microorganism, the noninhibitory concentration (NIC) and the MIC were quantified. Results prove that thymol can exert a significant antimicrobial effect on each phase of the growth cycle. The microbial susceptibility and resistance were found to be nonlinearly dose related. It is worth noting that significant biostatic effects were observed at sub-MIC levels.
Department of Food Science and Istituto per la Ricerca e le Applicazioni Biotecnologiche per la Sicurezza e la Valorizzazione dei Prodotti Tipici e di Qualità, University of Foggia, Via Napoli, 25-71100 Foggia, Italy.
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Sinigaglia
D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005516:Food Microbiology; D005519:Food Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D005520:Food Preservatives / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007700:Kinetics; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D013943:Thymol / Q000494:pharmacology*
D005520:Food Preservatives; D013943:Thymol