Essential oil composition and antimicrobial activities of oil and alcoholic extract of Artemisia spicigera C. Koch. from Mazandaran province

In this research, essential oil content and composition of Artemisia spicigera was investigated. In addition, the antimicrobial effects of the essential oil, methanol extract and it’s different fractions were studied. The aerial parts of A. spicigera in blooming were collected from Ribeh (Mazandaran Province). The plant materials were dried in shade and powdered for extraction. The essential oil was obtained by hydro-distillation and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The results showed presence of 20 components. The main constituents were camphor (39.6%), 1,8-cineole (34.3%), camphene (5.7%) and borneol (5.2%). The methanol extract was prepared by maceration, then the butanol, chloroform and water fractions were prepared from methanol extract. Finally the antimicrobial effects of the essential oil, methanol extract and the fractions were studied against Escherchia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Kelebsiell penomonia, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, Micrococcus luteus, Staphylococcus aureus and Yersinia enterocolitica. The antimicrobial effect of the essential oil of Artemisia spicigera against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria showed the oil produced inhibition zone more than 20 mm on all bacteria except Pseudomonas aeruginosa. So the essential oil showed strong effects against these bacteria equal to or higher than tetracycline and erythromycin. The results of antimicrobial study of the extracts and fractions showed different effects. For each bacterium some fractions with special polarity showed larger inhibition zones. Methanol extract produced the biggest inhibition zone on Y. entrocolitica and s. aureus. Butanol fraction had strong effect on Y. entrocolitica, Escherchia coli and Bacillus subtilis. So it seems the essential oil and extract of Artemisia spicigera and special fraction can be used in drug formulation for treatment of some diseases.