Kumari Km Uma, Imam Md Waquar, Kushwaha Soni, Khaliq Ayman, Meena Abha, Chanotiya Chandan Singh, Yadav Narayan Prasad, Tandon Sudeep, Chanda Debabrata, Luqman Suaib
CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, 226015, Uttar Pradesh, India; Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi, 110067, India.
CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, 226015, Uttar Pradesh, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201001, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Microb Pathog. 2025 Mar;200:107323. doi: 10.1016/j.micpath.2025.107323. Epub 2025 Jan 22.
We investigated the antimicrobial efficacy of seven essential oils from four plant families-Lamiaceae, Asteraceae, Zingiberaceae, and Poaceae-against microbes associated with dandruff. The antimicrobial effectiveness of these essential oils was assessed using paper disk agar diffusion and broth micro-dilution techniques. The results demonstrated that two of the essential oils significantly inhibited the growth of dandruff-associated microorganisms, with inhibition zones ranging from 5 ± 1.81 mm to 29.4 ± 2.70 mm in diameter. Among the tested essential oils, Palmarosa (Cymbopogon martinii) exhibited the highest antimicrobial potency, showing a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) between 0.27 and 0.55 mg/mL for the fungi Malassezia furfur and Candida albicans, as well as for the bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidis. The essential oil displayed fungicidal activity within the range of 0.55-2.2 mg/mL and bactericidal activity at 0.55 mg/mL. Additionally, post-treatment effects were evaluated by monitoring the re-growth of fungal and bacterial cells after exposure to Palmarosa essential oil. The results revealed significant retardation of the growth of M. furfur for up to 7 h at 2 × MIC and S. epidermidis for up to 5 h at higher concentrations (1 × MIC and 2 × MIC). The study also found that Palmarosa essential oil-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and altered the integrity of microbial membranes, although it did not impact the concentrations of ergosterol and sorbitol. Regarding safety, topical application of Palmarosa essential oil (at concentrations of 1X, 10X, and 20X MIC) on rats and rabbits caused no irritation, and no sub-acute toxic effects were observed either on the skin or systemically. These promising results suggest that Palmarosa essential oil has the potential to be developed into an effective and safe formulation for treating dandruff associated with microbial infections. Further studies could help solidify its clinical applications.
我们研究了来自唇形科、菊科、姜科和禾本科四个植物科的七种精油对与头皮屑相关微生物的抗菌效果。使用纸片琼脂扩散法和肉汤微量稀释技术评估了这些精油的抗菌效果。结果表明，其中两种精油显著抑制了与头皮屑相关的微生物的生长，抑菌圈直径范围为5±1.81毫米至29.4±2.70毫米。在所测试的精油中，玫瑰草（Cymbopogon martinii）表现出最高的抗菌效力，对糠秕马拉色菌、白色念珠菌以及表皮葡萄球菌的最低抑菌浓度（MIC）在0.27至0.55毫克/毫升之间。该精油在0.55 - 2.2毫克/毫升范围内显示出杀真菌活性，在0.55毫克/毫升时显示出杀菌活性。此外，通过监测暴露于玫瑰草精油后真菌和细菌细胞的再生长来评估处理后的效果。结果显示，在2×MIC浓度下，糠秕马拉色菌的生长显著延迟长达7小时，在较高浓度（1×MIC和2×MIC）下，表皮葡萄球菌的生长显著延迟长达5小时。该研究还发现，玫瑰草精油可诱导活性氧（ROS）产生并改变微生物膜的完整性，尽管它不影响麦角固醇和山梨醇的浓度。关于安全性，将玫瑰草精油（浓度为1X、10X和20X MIC）局部应用于大鼠和兔子未引起刺激，在皮肤或全身也未观察到亚急性毒性作用。这些有前景的结果表明，玫瑰草精油有潜力被开发成一种有效且安全的配方，用于治疗与微生物感染相关的头皮屑。进一步的研究有助于巩固其临床应用。
