| Literature DB >> 16619365 |
André Pichette1, Pierre-Luc Larouche, Maxime Lebrun, Jean Legault.
Abstract
The antibacterial activity of the essential oil of Abies balsamea (balsam fir) was evaluated against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. The essential oil of A. balsamea was found to be inactive against E. coli (>100 microg/mL) and active against S. aureus, with an MIC of 56 microg/mL. The oil composition was analysed by GC-MS and the antibacterial activity of each oil constituent was determined. The essential oil of A. balsamea is essentially constituted of monoterpenes (>96%) and some sesquiterpenes. beta-pinene (29.9%), delta-3-carene (19.6%) and alpha-pinene (14.6%) were the major components. beta-pinene and delta-3-carene were found inactive against both bacteria strains. However, three constituents of the essential oil were active against S. aureus: alpha-pinene, beta-caryophyllene (0.4%) and alpha-humulene (0.2%) with MIC values of 13.6 microg/mL, 5.1 microg/mL and 2.6 microg/mL, respectively. Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Entities:
Mesh:
Substances:
Year: 2006 PMID: 16619365 DOI: 10.1002/ptr.1863
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Phytother Res ISSN: 0951-418X Impact factor: 5.878