title: Chemical composition, anthelmintic, antibacterial and antioxidant effects of Thymus bovei essential oil.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It has been recently recognized that oxidative stress, helminth and microbial infections are the cause of much illness found in the underdeveloped, developing and developed countries. The present study was undertaken to identify the chemical composition, and to assess anthelmintic, antimicrobial and antioxidant effects of Thymus bovei essential oil.
  
  
  METHODS
  The chemical composition of the essential oil was analyzed using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Antimicrobial activity was tested against the selected strains from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) and clinical isolates such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans using MIC assay. The anthelmintic assay was carried out on adult earthworm (Pheretima posthuma), while antioxidant activity was analyzed using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Trans-geraniol (35.38 %), α-citral (20.37 %) and β-citral (14.76 %) were the major compounds comprising 70.51 % of the essential oil. Our results showed that T. bovei essential oil exhibited strong anthelmintic activity, even higher than piperazine citrate, the used reference standard, with potential antioxidant activity almost equal to the Trolox standard. Furthermore, T. bovei essential oil had powerful antibacterial and antifungal activities against the studied pathogens.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Essential oil of T. bovei exerted excellent antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anthelmintic activities. Moreover, this study found that T. bovei volatile oil contains active substances that could potentially be used as natural preservatives in food and pharmaceutical industries, these substances could also be employed for developing new anthelmintic, antimicrobial and antioxidant agents.
authors: Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, State of Palestine, P.O. Box 7. nidaljaradat@najah.edu.
authors: Nidal
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2291-6821
authors: N
authors: Jaradat
authors: College of Pharmacy Nursing and Health Professions, Birzeit University, Birzeit, State of Palestine, P.O. Box 14.
authors: Lina
authors: L
authors: Adwan
authors: Center of Birzeit University Testing Laboratories, Birzeit University, Birzeit, State of Palestine, P.O. Box 14.
authors: Shadi
authors: S
authors: K'aibni
authors: Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, State of Palestine, P.O. Box 7.
authors: Naser
authors: N
authors: Shraim
authors: Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, An-Najah National University, Nablus, State of Palestine, P.O. Box 7.
authors: Abdel Naser
authors: AN
authors: Zaid
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects; D001713:Biphenyl Compounds; D009822:Oils, Volatile / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009835:Oligochaeta / Q000187:drug effects; D010851:Picrates; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D046930:Thymus Plant / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000871:Anthelmintics; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D000975:Antioxidants; D001713:Biphenyl Compounds; D009822:Oils, Volatile; D010851:Picrates; D010938:Plant Oils; C004931:1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl
keywords: Anthelmintic; Antimicrobial; Antioxidant; Essential oil; Thymus bovei