Antibacterial activity of the essential oils of myrtle leaves against Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae

• Published in: Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine
• Main Authors: Abdollah Ghasemi Pirbalouti, Hamed Mirbagheri, Behzad Hamedi, Ebrahim Rahimi
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2014
• Subjects: Myrtus communis L; Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae; Essential oil; 1,8-cineole; α-Pinene; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.12980/APJTB.4.2014B1168; https://doaj.org/article/b3ca8333f9b04f00be0975dc43622b47

Objective: To evaluate the antibacterial activity of the essential oil of Myrtus communis (M. communis) L. against Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae (E. rhusiopathiae) in vitro. Methods: Wild populations of M. communis collected from Khuzestan and Lorestan provinces, Southwest Iran, were examined for antibacterial activity and chemical variability in leaves. The in vitro antibacterial activity against E. rhusiopathiae was performed by agar disc diffusion and micro-dilution assays. Results: The essential oils of M. communis have strong antibacterial against E. rhusiopathiae in both assays. The results showed that the major components of the oil were α-pinene (22.3%-55.2%), 1,8-cineole (8.7%-43.8%) and linalool (6.4%-14.5%). The inhibition zones and MIC values for bacteria which were sensitive to the essential oils of M. communis were in the range of 14.7–27.0 mm and 0.031–0.25 mg/mL, respectively. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that products with valuable antibacterial activity can be produced from leaves of M. communis against E. rhusiopathiae.