Antimicrobial behavior and mechanism of clove oil nanoemulsion.

Clove oil has many functions such as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation. In this experiment, a self-emulsification method was used to prepare clove oil nanoemulsion. And then filter paper diffusion method, minimum inhibitory concentration, and minimum bactericidal concentration were used to study the inhibitory behavior of clove oil nanoemulsion on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. And explore the antibacterial mechanism by dynamically testing the content of nucleic acid and protein in the culture solution during the antibacterial process. The results show that when the surfactant content is 10 wt%, the hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB) is 13.93, and the oil phase content is 2 wt%, a clove oil nanoemulsion with better dispersion and smaller average particle size can be prepared. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of clove oil nanoemulsion against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus is 0.5, 0.25 mg/mL, and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) is 1, 2 mg/mL. The increase in protein content and the exponential growth of nucleic acid release also indicated that the clove oil nanoemulsion destroys the integrity of the cell membrane. The experimental results can provide a reference for the application of clove oil nanoemulsion in food, medicine and other fields. © Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2021.