Chemical composition of the essential oil of Lippia gracilis Schauer leaves and its potential as modulator of bacterial resistance.
Lippia gracilis Schauer (Verbenaceae) is an aromatic plant widely used in folk medicine in the Brazilian semi-arid region. This work aims at evaluating the anti-microbial activity of essential oils from the leaves of L. gracilis (EOLG) when associated with commercial antibiotics against bacterial resistance. The essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation has 38 chemical constituents with thymol (44.4%), carvacrol (22.2%), p-cymene (6.2%) and α-pinene (5.6%) as major constituents. Microbiological assays were conducted by direct and gaseous contacts. We demonstrated that EOLG has significant synergism with all antibiotics tested. EOLG decreased the minimal inhibitory concentration of the aminoglycosides and improved their zone of inhibition more than 300% against Staphylococcus aureus and 270% against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These results demonstrate that natural substances present in EOLG have the capacity to modulate bacterial resistance and can be used as an adjuvant therapy against multi-resistant microorganisms such as S. aureus, Escherichia coli and P. aeruginosa.
a Faculdade Leão Sampaio, Unidade Saúde , Juazeiro do Norte , Brazil.
Vanessa de Carvalho Nilo
Vde C
Bitu
Heberty Di Tarso Fernandes
HD
Fecundo
José Galberto Martins
JG
da Costa
Henrique Douglas Melo
HD
Coutinho
Fabíola Fernandes G
FF
Rodrigues
Nathalia Matos
NM
de Santana
Marco Antônio
MA
Botelho
Irwin R Alencar
IR
Menezes
D000617:Aminoglycosides / Q000737:chemistry; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D000081008:Bicyclic Monoterpenes; D001938:Brazil; D000081007:Cymenes; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D032411:Lippia / Q000737:chemistry*; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D039821:Monoterpenes / Q000737:chemistry; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry*; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000187:drug effects; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects; D013943:Thymol / Q000737:chemistry
D000617:Aminoglycosides; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000081008:Bicyclic Monoterpenes; D000081007:Cymenes; D039821:Monoterpenes; D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010938:Plant Oils; C007210:4-cymene; D013943:Thymol; C073316:carvacrol; C005451:alpha-pinene