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Chemical composition of fennel essential oil and its impact on Staphylococcus aureus exotoxin production

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Abstract

In this study, fennel oil was isolated by hydrodistillation, and the chemical composition was determined by gas chromatography/mass spectral analysis. The antimicrobial activity of fennel oil against Staphylococcus aureus was evaluated by broth microdilution. A haemolysis assay, tumour necrosis factor (TNF) release assay, western blot, and real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR were applied to investigate the influence of fennel oil on the production of S. aureus virulence-related exoproteins. The data show that fennel oil, which contains a high level of trans-anethole, was active against S. aureus, with MICs ranging from 64 to 256 μg/ml. Furthermore, fennel oil, when used at subinhibitory concentrations, could dose-dependently decrease the expression of S. aureus exotoxins, including α-toxin, Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) and toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1).

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 30972212) and the State Key Laboratory for molecular virology and genetic engineering (No. 2011KF02).

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The authors declare that there have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Ministry of Education, Institute of Zoonosis, College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Xi’an Road 5333#, Changchun, 130062, People’s Republic of China

    Jiazhang Qiu, Hongen Li, Hongwei Su, Jing Dong, Mingjing Luo, Jianfeng Wang, Bingfeng Leng, Yanhong Deng, Juxiong Liu & Xuming Deng

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  1. Jiazhang Qiu
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  2. Hongen Li
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  3. Hongwei Su
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  4. Jing Dong
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  5. Mingjing Luo
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  6. Jianfeng Wang
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  7. Bingfeng Leng
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  8. Yanhong Deng
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  9. Juxiong Liu
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  10. Xuming Deng
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Juxiong Liu or Xuming Deng.

Additional information

Jiazhang Qiu and Hongen Li contributed equally to this work.

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Qiu, J., Li, H., Su, H. et al. Chemical composition of fennel essential oil and its impact on Staphylococcus aureus exotoxin production. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 28, 1399–1405 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-011-0939-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-011-0939-4

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