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Evaluation of Yield, Chemical Profile, and Antimicrobial Activity of Teucrium polium L. Essential Oil Used in Iranian Folk Medicine

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Abstract

Teucrium polium L. is used to treat many diseases like abdominal pains, indigestion, colds, and reproductive system diseases in Iranian folk medicine. This study was designed to investigate the yield, chemical profile of essential oil, and antibacterial and antifungal activity of this species. The flowering aerial parts of T. polium were collected from the Margh region of Kashan, Iran. The essential oil of the plant was extracted and separated using the Clevenger apparatus and analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The antimicrobial activity of the essential oil against a variety of standard microbial strains was investigated with the Agar well-diffusion method and determination of the lowest growth inhibitory and lethal concentration (MIC and MBC). The results showed that the yield of T. polium essential oil (TPEO) was 0.5778%. Based on the results of GC–MS, 76 compounds (99.3%) were identified in the TPEO, of which α-pinene (9.67%), β-caryophyllene (8.07%), β-pinene (5.04%), nerolidol (4.94%), and oleic acid (4.57%) were the dominant components. The results of antimicrobial tests showed that the TPEO on Staphylococcus aureus created the largest zone of inhibition (~ 14.29 mm). The dominant inhibitory activity of this essential oil was against Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli (~ 9.00 mm), which was almost similar to rifampin (~ 11 mm). It seems that the predominance of terpenoid and acidic compounds of the essential oil is one of the possible factors of the anti-bacterial activity of this essential oil. Therefore, the TPEO may be a promising and potential strategy to inhibit some bacterial strains.

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Data Availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

GC/MS:

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

μg:

Microgram

mL:

Milligram

MBC:

Minimum bactericide concentration

MIC:

Minimal inhibitory concentration

IROST:

Iranian Research Organization on Science and Technology

ANOVA:

One-way analysis of variance

RI:

Retention indices

TPEO:

T. polium Essential oil

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  1. Department of Nature Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources and Earth Sciences, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran

    Mansureh Ghavam & Fateme Sadat Markabi

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Mansureh Ghavam was the supervisor, designer of the hypotheses, and responsible for all the steps (plant collection, plant identification, laboratory, statistical analysis, data analysis, etc.) and wrote the text of the article. Fateme Sadat Markabi checked some of the data and corrected the English text.

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Correspondence to Mansureh Ghavam.

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Ghavam, M., Markabi, F.S. Evaluation of Yield, Chemical Profile, and Antimicrobial Activity of Teucrium polium L. Essential Oil Used in Iranian Folk Medicine. Appl Biochem Biotechnol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-023-04847-6

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