Antibacterial activities, chemical constitutes and acute toxicity of Egyptian Origanum majorana L., Peganum harmala L. and Salvia officinalis L. essential oils

摘要

Natural products are still major sources of innovative therapeutic agents for various conditions, including infectious diseases.?Origanum majorana?L.,?Peganum harmala?L. andSalvia officinalis?L. oils had wide range uses as traditional medicinal plants in Egypt. The current study was designed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of?O. majorana,?P. harmalaand?S. officinalis?essential oils growing in Egypt for first time.?The chemical constitutes and toxicity of these oils were also determined to obtain further information on the correlation between the chemical contents and antibacterial activity. The antibacterial effect of the essential oils of?O. majorana,?P. harmala?and?S. officinalis?oils were studied against some food borne pathogenic bacteria species. The oils of each plant were subjected to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The impact of oils administration on the change in rate of weight gain and complete blood picture in hamsters were investigated.?P. harmala?oil had strong antibacterial effect against bacterial species especially at minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) less than 75.0 μg/ml. From the oil of?P. harmala, forty one compounds were identified, and the major constituent was 1-hexyl-2-nitrocyclohexane (9.07%). Acute toxicity test was performed on hamsters and showed complete survival after 14 days, and there no toxicity symptoms occurred. This study demonstrated that these essential oils seemed to be destitute of toxic effect which could compromise the medicinal use of these plants in folk medicine.?Keywords:?Analysis mass spectrometry, antibacterial activities, acute toxicity, chemical constitutes, gas chromatography, weight gain,?Origanum majorana, Peganum harmala, Salvia officinalis.