Mohamed Asmaa Alhussein, Ahmed Mahgoub A, Korayem Abdallah S, Abu-Hussien Samah H, Rashidy Wael Bakry
Faculty of Archaeology, South Valley University, Qena, Egypt.
Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Cairo, 11241, Egypt.
BMC Biotechnol. 2025 Jan 7;25(1):4. doi: 10.1186/s12896-024-00940-8.
The increasing demand for sustainable alternatives to conventional antifungal agents has prompted extensive research into the antifungal properties of plant essential oils (EOs). This study investigates the use of EOs mixture (Origanum vulgare, Moringa oleifera, and Cinnamomum verum) for controlling fungal deterioration in wall paintings at the archaeological Youssef Kamal Palace in Nag Hammadi, Egypt. Fungal isolates were collected from deteriorated wall paintings and identified using phenotypic and genotypic analyses. Aspergillus sp. was found to be the predominant species (50%), followed by Penicillium sp. (16.7%), Fusarium sp. (16.7%), and others. They were genetically identified to be Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium chrysogenum, Fusarium solani, Alternaria alternata, Botrytis cinerea, and Trichoderma viride. The antifungal activity of three individual oils (oregano, moringa and cinnamon) was evaluated against the most predominant A. niger strain. Out of the three oils, oregano oil showed the strongest antifungal effect with an inhibition zone diameter (IZD) of 4.5 cm followed by moringa (3.5 cm) and cinnamon (3.2 cm). A mixture design approach optimized the EOs combination, with the most effective composition being (44% oregano, 46% moringa, 10% cinnamon), yielding an IZD of 6.5 cm. The optimized EOs mixture demonstrated complete inhibition against all tested fungal strains. The minimal inhibitory concentration tests showed varying efficacies against different fungal strains, with MIC values ranging from 125 to 500 µg/mL. GC-MS analysis identified the major bioactive compounds: carvacrol (83.25%) in oregano, trans-13-octadecenoic acid (22.62%) in moringa, and cinnamaldehyde (24.42%) in cinnamon. Cytotoxicity testing on human skin fibroblasts (HSF) showed minimal toxicity of EOs mixture with 87.64% cell viability at 100 µg/ml. Colorimetric measurements revealed some colour changes in experimental painting samples, particularly with cinnamon oil on white pigment (ΔE = 9.64) and moringa oil on a yellow pigment (ΔE = 16.31). However, oregano oil consistently showed the least impact across all pigments. These findings demonstrate the potential of the EOs combination as an effective, eco-friendly approach to mitigating fungal deterioration in wall paintings, contributing to sustainable conservation strategies for cultural heritage preservation.
对传统抗真菌剂可持续替代品的需求不断增加，促使人们对植物精油（EOs）的抗真菌特性进行广泛研究。本研究调查了精油混合物（牛至、辣木和肉桂）用于控制埃及纳哈马迪尤塞夫·卡迈勒考古宫殿壁画真菌变质的情况。从变质壁画中收集真菌分离株，并通过表型和基因型分析进行鉴定。发现曲霉属是主要菌种（50%），其次是青霉属（16.7%）、镰刀菌属（16.7%）等。经基因鉴定，它们分别是米曲霉、黑曲霉、产黄青霉、茄病镰刀菌、链格孢、灰葡萄孢和绿色木霉。评估了三种单一精油（牛至、辣木和肉桂）对最主要的黑曲霉菌株的抗真菌活性。在这三种精油中，牛至油的抗真菌效果最强，抑菌圈直径（IZD）为4.5厘米，其次是辣木（3.5厘米）和肉桂（3.2厘米）。一种混合设计方法优化了精油组合，最有效的成分是（44%牛至、46%辣木、10%肉桂），抑菌圈直径为6.5厘米。优化后的精油混合物对所有测试真菌菌株均表现出完全抑制作用。最低抑菌浓度测试表明，对不同真菌菌株的效果各不相同，最低抑菌浓度值范围为125至500微克/毫升。气相色谱-质谱联用（GC-MS）分析确定了主要生物活性化合物：牛至中的香芹酚（83.25%）、辣木中的反式-13-十八碳烯酸（22.62%）和肉桂中的肉桂醛（24.42%）。对人皮肤成纤维细胞（HSF）的细胞毒性测试表明，精油混合物的毒性极小，在100微克/毫升时细胞活力为87.64%。比色测量显示实验绘画样品有一些颜色变化，特别是白色颜料上的肉桂油（ΔE = 9.64）和黄色颜料上的辣木油（ΔE = 16.31）。然而，牛至油在所有颜料上的影响始终最小。这些发现表明，精油组合有潜力成为减轻壁画真菌变质的一种有效、环保方法，有助于文化遗产保护的可持续保护策略。
