The Antimicrobial or Antitumor Activities of Essential Oils

A special issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant-Derived Antibiotics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 4325

Special Issue Editor

Department of Biological, Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science and Technology (STEBICEF), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
Interests: pharmacology; chemotherapy; multidrug resistance; natural products; pharmacognosy and phytotherapy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Drug therapy plays a crucial role in the treatment of pathogen infections, as well as in the control of human cancer. However the success of the therapy is threatened by the increasing prevalence of drug resistance, innate or acquired and above all in its multiple form (multidrug resistance, MDR). MDR is multifactorial, and pleiotropic cellular signals are simultaneously involved in this process. The multiplicity of the drug resistance determinants raises the question about the optimal strategies to deal with them. In the necessity to find new therapeutic strategies, plant secondary metabolites including essential oils (EOs), may represent one of the best sources. EOs in plants act as constitutive defenses against biotic and abiotic stress. The biological properties of EOs are widely documented from a vast literature that demonstrates theirs in vitro anticancer, anti-bioceptive, antiviral, antiphlogistic and antimicrobial activity. EOs represent the most important sources of drugs used in pharmaceutical therapies due to their low toxicity, good pharmacokinetic and multitarget activity. Moreover, essential oils contain several chemical classes of compounds whose heterogeneity of active moieties can help prevent the development of drug resistance. This special issue focuses on the possible useful antimicrobial or antitumor activities of essential oils or their constituents against pathogen infections or neoplastic disease. Of particular interest will also be studies on models characterized also by drug resistance, which underline the role of EO as possible modulators of resistance to multiple drugs or as a source of promising lead compounds.

Dr. Manuela Labbozzetta
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Essential oils (EOs)
  • Pathogen infections
  • Cancer
  • Antitumor and Antimicrobial Activities
  • Drug-resistant
  • Multidrug resistance modulators

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 917 KiB  
Article
In Vitro Activity of Essential Oils Against Planktonic and Biofilm Cells of Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase (ESBL)/Carbapenamase-Producing Gram-Negative Bacteria Involved in Human Nosocomial Infections
by Ramona Iseppi, Alessandro Di Cerbo, Piero Aloisi, Mattia Manelli, Veronica Pellesi, Cinzia Provenzano, Stefania Camellini, Patrizia Messi and Carla Sabia
Antibiotics 2020, 9(5), 272; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/antibiotics9050272 - 25 May 2020
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 3933
Abstract
The aim of this study was to analyze the antibacterial activity of four essential oils (EOs), Melaleuca alternifolia, Eucalyptus globulus, Mentha piperita, and Thymus vulgaris, in preventing the development and spread of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to analyze the antibacterial activity of four essential oils (EOs), Melaleuca alternifolia, Eucalyptus globulus, Mentha piperita, and Thymus vulgaris, in preventing the development and spread of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL)-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa and carbapenemase (KPC)-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae. A total of 60 strains were obtained from the stock collection from the Microbiology Laboratory of Hesperia Hospital, Modena, Italy. Twenty ESBL-producing E. coli, 5 K. pneumoniae, 13 KPC-producing K. pneumoniae, and 20 MBL-producing P. aeruginosa were cultured and reconfirmed as ESBL and carbapenamase producers. Polymerase chain reaction was used for the detection of genes responsible for antibiotic resistance (ESBL and KPC/MBL). Antibacterial activity of the EOs was determined using the agar disk diffusion assay, and minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were also evaluated. Lastly, adhesion capability and biofilm formation on polystyrene and glass surfaces were studied in 24 randomly selected strains. M. alternifolia and T. vulgaris EOs showed the best antibacterial activity against all tested strains and, as revealed by agar disk diffusion assay, M. alternifolia was the most effective, even at low concentrations. This effect was also confirmed by MICs, with values ranging from 0.5 to 16 µg/mL and from 1 to 16 µg/mL, for M. alternifolia and T. vulgaris EOs, respectively. The EOs’ antibacterial activity compared to antibiotics confirmed M. alternifolia EO as the best antibacterial agent. T. vulgaris EO also showed a good antibacterial activity with MICs lower than both reference antibiotics. Lastly, a significant anti-biofilm activity was observed for the two EOs (*P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01 for M. alternifolia and T. vulgaris EOs, respectively). A good antibacterial and anti-biofilm activity of M. alternifolia and T. vulgaris EOs against all selected strains was observed, thus demonstrating a future possible use of these EOs to treat infections caused by ESBL/carbapenemase-producing strains, even in association with antibiotics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Antimicrobial or Antitumor Activities of Essential Oils)
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