Biological activities of essential oils from six genotypes of four Ocotea species

Essential oils from four Ocotea species collected in southern Brazil were evaluated for chemical composition using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The primary compound identified in O. acutifolia essential oil was an unsaturated tetracyclic diterpene, phyllocladene (67.7%), followed by a sesquiterpene hydrocarbon, beta-selinene (18.0%). The sesquiterpene fraction was predominant in oils from two collections of O. puberula; beta-caryophyllene (25.2%) and globulol (22.6%) were the major compounds identified in collections 1 and 2, respectively. O. silvestris essential oil contained predominantly germacrene D and bicyclogermacrene. These compounds were also predominant in essential oil from O. indecom leaves collected from shady habitats. By contrast, essential oil extracted from O. indecora grown under direct sunlight contained mainly oxygenated sesquiterpenes, such as guaiol (30.2%), alpha-eudesmol (27.6%), and beta-eudesmol (12.7%). Chemotaxis assays showed that Ocotea essential oils had no significant inhibitory activity on leukocyte migration compared with a chemotactic stimulant (lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli). However, the oils exhibited antifungal activity against Candida panapsilosis, with a minimum inhibitory concentration of 500 mu g/mL. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the in vitro antifungal and antichemotactic activities of essential oils from Ocotea species native to southern Brazil.

Automated summary

The chemical composition and antifungal activity of essential oils extracted from four Ocotea species native to southern Brazil were evaluated in this study.