‍‍‍Chemical compositions, antibacterial and antioxidant properties of Echinophora cinerea essential oil

Echinophora cinerea is a plant of the Apiaceae family, which reaches to a height of 30 to 100 cm. The essential oil of Echinophora cinerea contains alkaloids and flavonoids etc. Phenolic composition is one of the best sources of natural antioxidants. The goal of this study is to examine the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of the essential oil of E. cinerea. In order preparation and identification of chemical compounds of essential oils, hydrodistillation approach and gas chromatography coupling with a mass spectrometer (GC, GC-MS) were used. Antioxidant capacity of the essential oil was determined by DPPH assay and, compared with standard antioxidants (BHT). Antibacterial test had done by broth microdilution and disk diffusion methods, and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of these oils after 24 and 48 h were determined and compared to antibiotic standards against food-borne pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and MRSA. Results of GC and GC-MS showed that the major components of essential oil of E. cinerea were α-phellandrene (32.09%), limonene (16.28%), p-cymene (10.75%), α-pinene (9.79%), carvacrol (3.79%) and β-myrcene (2.65%). Results of antioxidant test indicated that IC50 for oil of Echinophora cinerea was 740 μg/ml while for BHT was 50.6 μg/ml. The highest antibacterial effects of essential oil were observed on standard bacteria of Staphylococcus aureus with MIC= 0.16 μg/ml and MBC= 0.63 μg/ml. This effect on MRSA-resistant Staphylococcus and E. coli was weaker. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was resistant to essential oil. According to results of present study, the essential oil E. cinerea can be used in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and health industry and flavoring.