Chemical Composition and Antipathogenic Activity of Artemisia annua Essential Oil from Romania

Abstract

The essential oil extracted by hydrodistillation from Romanian Artemisia annua aerial parts was characterized by GC/MS analysis, which allowed the identification of 94.64% of the total oil composition. The main components were camphor (17.74%), α-pinene (9.66%), germacrene D (7.55%), 1,8-cineole (7.24%), trans-β-caryophyllene (7.02%), and artemisia ketone (6.26%). The antimicrobial activity of this essential oil was evaluated by determining the following parameters: minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC), minimal fungicidal concentration (MFC), and minimal biofilm eradication concentration (MBEC). Moreover, the soluble virulence factors were quantified with different biochemical substrates incorporated in the culture media. The reference and resistant, clinical strains proved to be susceptible to the A. annua oil, with MICs ranging from 0.51 to 16.33 mg/ml. The tested essential oil also showed good antibiofilm activity, inhibiting both the initial stage of the microbial cell adhesion to the inert substratum and the preformed mature biofilm. When used at subinhibitory concentrations, the essential oil proved to inhibit the phenotypic expression of five soluble virulence factors (hemolysins, gelatinase, DNase, lipases, and lecithinases). Briefly, the present results showed that the A. annua essential oil contained antimicrobial compounds with selective activity on Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains as well as on yeast strains and which also interfere with the expression of cell-associated and soluble virulence factors.

Identification of Apigenin and Luteolin in Artemisia annua L. for the Quality Control

“…[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Moreover, the essential oil from this plant is postulated to inhibit the growth of Gram-positive bacteria, Gram-negative bacteria, and yeast, and to depress the central nervous system. [11][12][13] These reported findings support the historical claims and traditional belief that A. annua is an effective herbal medicine for treatment of different diseases. The chemical component of A. anuua Original Article SMJ that makes it effective for treating the parasitic diseases of malaria is artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone.…”

Influence of Artemisia Annua on Broiler Performance and Intestinal Microflora

“…Factors such as temperature changes and stress treatments can be applied to affect the content of secondary metabolites of plants (Malik et al, 2009). However, as Marinas et al (2015) shows, the essential oil from A. annua plant grows in Romania, had contained camphor (17.74%), α-pinene (9.66%), germacrene D (7.55%), 1,8-cineole (7.24%), α-caryophyllene (7.02%), artemisia ketone (6.26%) as main compounds. In Bosnia, Artemisia ketone (30.7%) and camphor (15.8%) are the major constituents in the essential oil of A. annua (Cavar et al, 2012).…”

Artemisia arborescens Essential Oil Composition, Enantiomeric Distribution, and Antimicrobial Activity from Different Wild Populations from the Mediterranean Area

“…arborescens EO . Nonetheless, such effect could also depend on other compounds including α ‐pinene, 1,8‐cineole, borneol, and thymol or the enantiomeric distribution of some compounds, as also found by Tabanca et al . , whereas few or no inhibitory activity could be attributed to chamazulene and germacrene D, which are likely active against fungi and Gram ‐positive bacteria .…”