Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
Abstract
Indiscriminate use of antibiotics and consequently increase resistance of bacteria has led to a demand for new agents and components. To produce new drugs, different sources especially plant species are considered by researchers. The objective of this study was to investigate the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of essential oils of Juniperus horizontalis Moench. Leaves and fruits of Juniperus horizontalis were collected in winter and the essential oil was prepared by hydro-distillation and analyzed by GC/MS. The antimicrobial activity was determined by disk diffusion method against 13 bacterial species. The minimal inhibition concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) values of essential oils were determined based on microdilution method. The results indicated that two main components in leaves and fruits were sabinene (30.2% - 38%, respectively) and limonene (26.3% - 27.8%, respectively) followed by bornyl acetate (10.7%) in leaves and myrcene (22.6%) in fruit oil. Essential oil of the leaves showed significant antimicrobial effect against 12 species from 13 tested bacteria species. Only Citrobacter frondii was resistant to the oil. The fruit essential oil had a weak activity against four of thirteen tested bacterial species.
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