Essential Oils of Lamiaceae Family Plants as Antifungals

Abstract

The incidence of fungal infections has been steadily increasing in recent years. Systemic mycoses are characterized by the highest mortality. At the same time, the frequency of infections caused by drug-resistant strains and new pathogens e.g., Candida auris increases. An alternative to medicines may be essential oils, which can have a broad antimicrobial spectrum. Rich in the essential oils are plants from the Lamiaceae family. In this review are presented antifungal activities of essential oils from 72 Lamiaceae plants. More than half of these have good activity (minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) < 1000 µg/mL) against fungi. The best activity (MICs < 100) have essential oils from some species of the genera Clinopodium, Lavandula, Mentha, Thymbra, and Thymus. In some cases were observed significant discrepancies between different studies. In the review are also shown the most important compounds of described essential oils. To the chemical components most commonly found as the main ingredients include β-caryophyllene (41 plants), linalool (27 plants), limonene (26), β-pinene (25), 1,8-cineole (22), carvacrol (21), α-pinene (21), p-cymene (20), γ-terpinene (20), and thymol (20).

Comparison of Chemical Composition between Kuromoji (Lindera umbellata) Essential Oil and Hydrosol and Determination of the Deodorizing Effect

“…Linalool is a terpenoid that is commonly present in plants, such as citrus [ 7 ]. It is known that linalool possesses several bioactivities, such as antibacterial [ 8 ], antiviral [ 9 ], antifungal [ 10 ], anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties [ 11 , 12 ]. Additionally, it is a perfumery compound that is used in air fresheners [ 13 ].…”

Polyphenols and Other Bioactive Compounds of Sideritis Plants and Their Potential Biological Activity

“…Probably the antimicrobial properties of the Sideritis extracts result from the presence of monoterpenes such as α-pinene, β-pinene, and carvacrol with proven antibacterial and antifungal activity. Some essential oils extracted from different species from Lamiaceae family are used in medical products and cosmetics [ 19 , 20 ]. As the genus Sideritis belongs to the Lamiaceae family, we may suspect similar properties of its essential oil components.…”

Bioactive Compounds and Aroma Profile of Some Lamiaceae Edible Flowers

“…Lamiaceae (order Lamiales) is a family of flowering species, also known as the mint family [ 1 ]. The taxonomy rank is composed of 236 genera and 6900–7200 species, distributed all over the world [ 2 ]. Lamiaceae is divided in 12 subfamilies [ 3 ] of which Nepetoidae is one of the most clearly defined [ 4 ] and has strongly aromatic species with volatile terpenoids [ 1 ].…”