Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Road, Parktown 2193, South Africa.
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Private Bag X680, Pretoria 0001, South Africa.
Fitoterapia. 2021 Oct;154:105024. doi: 10.1016/j.fitote.2021.105024. Epub 2021 Aug 26.
The antimicrobial effects of essential oils are commonly cited within aromatherapeutic texts for use in respiratory tract infections. These essential oils are inhaled or applied to the skin to treat infections and manage symptoms associated with these conditions. A limited number of these essential oils have been scientifically studied to support these claims, specifically, against respiratory pathogens. This study reports on the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 49 commercial essential oils recommended for respiratory tract infections, and identifies putative biomarkers responsible for the determined antimicrobial effect following a biochemometric workflow. Essential oils were investigated against nine pathogens. Three essential oils, Amyris balsamifera (amyris), Coriandrum sativum (coriander) and Santalum austrocaledonicum (sandalwood) were identified as having greater activity (MIC value = 0.03-0.13 mg/ml) compared to the other essential oils investigated. The essential oil composition of all 49 oils were determined using Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) analysis and the GC-MS data analysed together with the antimicrobial data using chemometric tools. Eugenol was identified as the main biomarker responsible for antimicrobial activity in the majority of the essential oils. The ability of a chemometric model to accurately predict the active and inactive biomarkers of the investigated essential oils against pathogens of the respiratory tract was 80.33%.
香薰治疗文本中常提到精油具有抗菌作用，可用于治疗呼吸道感染。这些精油可吸入或涂抹在皮肤上，以治疗感染并缓解与这些病症相关的症状。少数几种精油已通过科学研究证实了这些说法，特别是针对呼吸道病原体。本研究报告了 49 种推荐用于呼吸道感染的商业精油的最小抑菌浓度 (MIC)，并确定了在生化计量工作流程后，负责确定抗菌作用的潜在生物标志物。研究人员调查了这些精油对 9 种病原体的作用。三种精油——Amyris balsamifera（苦配巴香脂）、Coriandrum sativum（芫荽）和 Santalum austrocaledonicum（东澳檀香）的活性（MIC 值=0.03-0.13mg/ml）高于其他调查的精油。使用气相色谱-质谱联用仪（GC-MS）分析对所有 49 种精油的精油成分进行了测定，并使用化学计量工具对 GC-MS 数据与抗菌数据进行了分析。研究人员发现，大多数精油的抗菌活性主要归因于丁香酚。该化学计量模型准确预测研究精油对呼吸道病原体的活性和非活性生物标志物的能力为 80.33%。
