title: Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Lippia grandis Schauer (Verbenaceae) from the western Amazon.
abstract: Lippia grandis Schauer is an aromatic plant that has been used as a spice in Brazilian culinary and in traditional medicine to treat liver disease, disorders of the stomach and throat infections. We determined the chemical composition of the essential oil of L. grandis and evaluated its potential for the treatment of clinically-important pathogenic micro-organisms. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), giving carvacrol (37.12%), ρ-cymene (11.64%), and thymol (7.83%) as the main components. The agar disk diffusion method of the essential oil was effective against 75% of the micro-organisms analyzed, in particular, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, and Escherichia coli. The minimum inhibitory concentration was 0.57 mg/ml for E. faecalis and 1.15 mg/ml for all the other strains. The results indicate that the essential oil of L. grandis contains chemical compounds with good potential for the treatment of infections.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Amazonian Natural Resources - Federal University of Para West - UFOPA, 68135110 Santarém, PA, Brazil; Bio-prospecting and Experimental Biology Laboratory - Federal University of Para West - UFOPA, 68135110 Santarém, PA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sandra Layse Ferreira
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Sarrazin
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Amazonian Natural Resources - Federal University of Para West - UFOPA, 68135110 Santarém, PA, Brazil; Bio-prospecting and Experimental Biology Laboratory - Federal University of Para West - UFOPA, 68135110 Santarém, PA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ricardo Bezerra
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Amazonian Natural Resources - Federal University of Para West - UFOPA, 68135110 Santarém, PA, Brazil; Natural Products Laboratory, Institute of Chemistry - State University of Campinas - UNICAMP, P.O.B. 6154, 13083-970 Campinas, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lauro Euclides Soares
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Barata
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Amazonian Natural Resources - Federal University of Para West - UFOPA, 68135110 Santarém, PA, Brazil; Bio-prospecting and Experimental Biology Laboratory - Federal University of Para West - UFOPA, 68135110 Santarém, PA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rosa Helena Veras
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Mourão
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001938:Brazil; D032411:Lippia / Q000737:chemistry*; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry*; D029648:Verbenaceae / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D009822:Oils, Volatile