Journal
FITOTERAPIA
Volume 94, Issue -, Pages 102-107Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.fitote.2014.01.024
Keywords
Essential oil; Microtiter plate; Nigella sativa; Quinone; Staphylococcus aureus; Volatile
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Funding
- Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic [MSM 6046070901]
- European Science Foundation and Ministry of Education
- Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic [CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0040]
- University-wide Internal Grant Agency-CIGA of the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague [20125009]
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The broth microdilution (BMD) method is widely used for the determination of minimum inhibitory concentrations of antimicrobial agents, including volatile oils and their components. In this series of various experiments, we have demonstrated the influence of thymoquinone (TQ) vapor on the results of the BMD test performed with Staphylococcus aureus as a model organism. The spread of vapor from the TQ containing wells (32-512 mu g/mL) caused the complete inhibition of staphylococcal growth in adjoining wells initially containing bacterium-inoculated pure Mueller-Hinton broth only and thus produced false positive results of the test. The ability of TQ to pass into the adjoined wells was subsequently confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, whereas TQ at concentrations up to 84 mu g/mL was detected in these wells after five hours. Based on these results, we suppose that vapors of TQ as well as of other naturally occurring volatile compounds and their mixtures (for example essential oils and plant extracts) can significantly influence results of the standard BMD assay. These observations, therefore, call for development of new appropriate BMD method suitable for assessment of antimicrobial activity of volatile substances. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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