The chemical composition of essential oil and in vitro antibacterial activities of essential oil and methanol extract of Ziziphora persica Bunge

This study was designed to examine the chemical composition of essential oil and the in vitro antibacterial activities of essential oil and methanol extracts of Ziziphora persica. The inhibitory effects of essential oil and methanol extracts of Ziziphora persica were tested against 98 laboratory strains belonging to 51 bacteria species by using disc-diffusion assay and micro-broth dilution methods, respectively. GC and GC/MS analyses revealed that the essential oil predominantly contains (+)-pulegone (79.33%), limonene (6.78%) and piperitenone (4.2%). The antibacterial test results showed that both methanol extract and in particular essential oil of Ziziphora persica had antibacterial activity against a number of bacteria tested. The lowest MIC values (7.81 mu g/ml) were obtained with the essential oil of Ziziphora persica against Bacillus dipsauri, Corynebacterium cystitidis and Corynebacterium flavescens. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.