Composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oil of yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.)

Abstract

The medicinal plant yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.) belongs to the Asteracea family. It is being used in the pharmacological, food, and cosmetic industry. The economic importance of yarrow resides in its essential oil (EO). This plant is used in traditional medicine as the EO has properties which range from antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and antitumor activities. The objective of this study was to identify chemical components and EO content of yarrow, as well as its antimicrobial activity against some micro-organisms in vitro. The fresh leaves were collected in a morning in October (2018) at the UNIPAR Medicinal Plants Garden, Umuarama-Paraná State, Brazil. The EO was obtained by hydrodistillation of the modified Clevenger type. After that, the content (m/m%) was calculated. The chemical composition of the EO was identified by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) and minimal fungicidal concentration (MFC) were determined by a microdilution method in 96-well microtitre plates and effect of EO was assessed on four micro-organisms (Candida albicans, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherechia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae). The EO content (yield) in the plant shoots was 0.4% (four grams of EO kg-1 of plant fresh shoots) and presented 20 chemical compounds such as α-farnesene (31.66%), followed by chamazulene (17.17%), β-caryophyllene (10.27%) and sabinene (8.77%). The majority class was hydrocarbon sesquiterpene with 74.29%. The antimicrobial activity tests showed that the EO had low antimicrobial activity against the analyzed species with MIC for all species above 1.5 mg mL-1. It was concluded that the EO content was 0.4%. The major component was α-farnesene (31.66%) and EO presented low MIC.

Potential Application of Peppermint (Mentha piperita L.), German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) and Yarrow (Achillea millefolium L.) as Active Fillers in Natural Rubber Biocomposites

“…According to the previous research by Beigi et al [ 41 , 67 , 75 ], peppermint, yarrow and chamomile are herbs with high contents of terpenes, terpenoids and phenolic compounds, which was confirmed by the peak registered at the 270 nm and as a band for 290–320 nm [ 90 , 91 , 92 ]. The chlorophyll content characteristic for plants was noticed as an extensive peak in the range of 360 to 450 nm and at 680 nm [ 93 ].…”

“…This was confirmed by the obtained results as the contact angle of studied plants was below 90°. Again, these low values of contact angle were caused by the presence of terpenes and terpenoids in the herb composition such as menthol in Mentha piperita L. [ 36 ], bisabolol in Matricaria chamomilla L. [ 69 ] and cadinol or terpinen-4-ol in Achillea millefolium L. [ 75 ]. The lowest CA.…”

“…According to conducted studies, Achillea millefolium L. is a biologically active plant, which demonstrates multiple beneficial effects including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, hepatoprotective, antipyretic and antimicrobial activity [ 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 ]. The chemical composition of yarrow depends on the region of occurrence; however, it primarily consists of sabinene, 1,8-cineole, borneol, bornyl acetate, pinene and chamazulene [ 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 ]. Achillea millefolium L. helps eliminate toxins from the body, controls bleeding, lowers blood pressure, relieves menstrual pain and is used in the treatment of various diseases [ 79 , 80 , 81 ].…”

Essential Oils of Six Achillea Species: Chemical Profiles, Antimicrobial Potential and Toxicity toward Crustaceans

“…Similar high activity was reported for the EO from France, where camphor and germacrene-D were reported as the main compounds. [18] On the other hand, recent research by Daniel et al [30] reported the results with much lower activities of EO from the same plant species. This EO originated from plant material collected in Brazil and had α-farnesene (31.7 %) followed by chamazulene (17.2 %), β-caryophyllene (10.3 %) and sabinene (8.8 %).…”

“…For this plant species, our results have shown inhibitory action in the range from 0.31 to 20 mg/mL, with S. enteritidis as the most sensitive strain, while ATCC strain of P. aeruginosa showed the highest resistance to the action of this EO. In the previous studies, which determined the MICs of the EO of A. millefolium, inhibition was exhibited against various microbial strains and was in a very wide range of concentrations such as 4.5 -72 mg/mL, [28] 0.32 -10 μl/mL, [29] 3.7 -150 mg/mL, [30] 0.1 -2 mg/mL, [18] 1-5 μg/mL, [9] and some of them even showed lack of activity at very high concentrations. In comparison to the other results, Kazemi [9] reported very significant activity of A. millefolium EO collected in Iran, which was unusually highly active as observed activity was higher than that of the tested antibiotics ampicillin and fluconazole.…”