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Chemical Composition and Antifungal Activity of Essential Oils and Supercritical CO2 Extracts of Apium nodiflorum (L.) Lag.

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Abstract

Aerial parts of Apium nodiflorum collected in Portugal and Italy were submitted to hydrodistillation; also a supercritical fluid extract was obtained from Italian plants. The extracts were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Both essential oils, obtained from Portuguese and Italian plants, posses high content of phenylpropanoids (51.6 vs. 70.8%); in the former, the percentage split in myristicin (29.1%) and dillapiol (22.5%), whereas in the latter, the total percentage is only of dillapiol (70.8%). The co-occurrence of myristicin and dillapiol is frequent because dillapiol results from enzymatic methoxylation of myristicin. Antimicrobial activity of phenylpropanoids has been patented, what suggest the potential of plants with high amounts of these compounds. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal lethal concentration, determined according to NCCLS, were used to evaluate the antifungal activity of the essential oils against yeasts, Aspergillus species and dermatophytes. Essential oils exhibited higher antifungal activity than other Apiaceae against dermatophytes, with MIC ranging from 0.04 to 0.32 μl/ml. These results support the potential of A. nodiflorum oil in the treatment of dermatophytosis and candidosis.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by CEF/POCI2010/FEDER.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento della Scienza della Vita e dell’Ambiente-Macrosezione di Botanica e Orto Botanico, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Viale Sant’ Ignazio, 09123, Cagliari, Italy

    Andrea Maxia & Maria Assunta Frau

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato, SS 554, Km 4.500, 09042, Cagliari, Italy

    Danilo Falconieri, Alessandra Piras, Silvia Porcedda & Bruno Marongiu

  3. Centro de Estudos Farmacêuticos, Faculdade de Farmacia, Universidade de Coimbra, 3000-548, Coimbra, Portugal

    Maria J. Gonçalves, Célia Cabral, Carlos Cavaleiro & Lígia Salgueiro

  4. Laboratório de Farmacognosia, Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Coimbra, Pólo das Ciências da Saúde, Azinhaga de Santa Comba, 3000-548, Coimbra, Portugal

    Lígia Salgueiro

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  1. Andrea Maxia
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  2. Danilo Falconieri
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Correspondence to Lígia Salgueiro.

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Maxia, A., Falconieri, D., Piras, A. et al. Chemical Composition and Antifungal Activity of Essential Oils and Supercritical CO2 Extracts of Apium nodiflorum (L.) Lag.. Mycopathologia 174, 61–67 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-011-9519-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-011-9519-2

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