Planta Med 2007; 73 - P_096
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-986878

Composition and antimicrobial activity of Laserpitium zernyi Hayek essential oils

S Petrović 1, M Pavlović 1, M Couladis 2, O Tzakou 2, M Milenković 3, I Pavlović 1, M Niketić 4
  • 1Institute of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, V. Stepe 450, 11221 Belgrade, Serbia
  • 2Department of Pharmacognosy and Chemistry of Natural Products, School of Pharmacy, Panepistimioupoli Zographou, 15771 Athens, Greece
  • 3Institute of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Pharmacy, V. Stepe 450, 11221 Belgrade, Serbia
  • 4Natural History Museum, Njegoževa 51, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

Laserpitium zernyi Hayek (Umbelliferae) [1] is an aromatic perennial plant distributed in the mountain regions of the C. Balkan (S. Serbia, W. FYROM, E. Albania, N. W. Greece). It was treated earlier as a subspecies of the closely related L. siler L., subsp. zernyi (Hayek) Tutin [2]. The essential oils of flowers (sample 1) and leaves (sample 2), isolated from air-dried plant material by hydrodistillation, according to the procedure of Ph. Eur. 4 were investigated. Essential oil yields were 0.22% and 0.14% (w/w), respectively. The chemical analysis of the oils was performed using GC-FID and GC-MS. Fifty-five compounds (96.8% of the total oil) and fifty-eight compounds (89.4% of the total oil) were identified in sample 1 and 2, respectively. The content of monoterpenes was 75.6% in sample 1 and 59.1% in sample 2, while sesquiterpenes were present in smaller quantity (21.2% and 29.2%, respectively). In flower oil the major components were sabinene (18.5%), limonene (12.0%), β-phellandrene (12.0%) and terpinen-4-ol (10.6%). In leaf oil the most abundant constituents were β-pinene (20.0%), terpinen-4-ol (12.0%) and α-bisabolol (6.4%). Antimicrobial activity of the oils was tested using the agar diffusion [3] and broth microdilution methods [4] against six bacterial strains (Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 12228, S. aureus ATCC 25923, Micrococcus luteus ATCC 10240, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 and Klebsiella pneumoniae NCIMB 9111) and a yeast Candida albicans ATCC 10259. The best inhibitory effect (MIC 80µl/ml) exhibited sample 1 against S. epidermidis and K. pneumoniae, sample 2 against E. coli, and both oils against M. luteus.

References: [1] Micevski, K. (2005) Flora na Republika Makedonija 1(6). Makedonska Akademija na Naukite i Umetnostite. Skopje. [2] Tutin, T.G. (1968): Laserpitium L. In: Tutin, T.G. et al. (eds). Flora Europaea 2. University Press. Cambridge. [3] Acar, J.F., Goldstein, F.W. (1996) In: Lorian, V. (ed) 4th Ed. Williams & Wilkins. Baltimore. [4] Candan, F., Unlu, M. et al. (2003) J. Ethnopharmacol.: 87, 215–220.