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Janne Rojas, Torres Lizzeth, Alexis Buitrago, Judith Velasco, Antonio Morales, Luis Rojas and Maria Lucena
University of Los Andes, Venezuela
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis
Statement of the Problem: Ageratina genus belongs to Asteraceae family and is distributed in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Peru. In Venezuela are located at Amazonas, Aragua, Bolívar, Distrito Federal, Monagas, Zulia, Tachira, Merida and Trujillo, mainly between 1000 to 3850 m.a.s.l. Species of this genus have been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of superficial mycosis, skin infections and wounds, as well as for its analgesic activity. Previous investigations have revealed anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antibacterial and larvicidal activities either in extracts or isolated compounds from different Ageratina species. Present investigation aims to compare the chemical composition and evaluate the antibacterial activity of essential oils of A. jahnii and A. pichinchesis collected from Mérida-Venezuela.
Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: Fresh leaves of each species were cut into small pieces and submitted to hydrodistillation for 4 h, using a Clevenger-type apparatus. The oils were dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and stored at 4 °C. Gas chromatography-Mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses were carried out on a Hewlett Packard GC-MS system, model 5973. The identification of components was based on a Wiley MS data library (6th ed), followed by comparisons of MS data with published literature. The antimicrobial assay was carried out according to the disc diffusion method. MIC was defined as the lowest concentration that inhibited the visible bacterial growth.
Findings: Essential oil from leaves of A. jahnii (AJ) and A. pichinchensis (AP) yielded 0.50% and 0.43 % w/v, respectively. The major components identified in AJ were β-myrcene, α-pinene and limonene while for AP 8,9-epoxythymyl isobutyrate, germacrene-D, thymyl isobutyrate and encecalol were observed as main compounds. Essential oils showed antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. faecalis with MIC values of 49.5 µl/mL for AJ and 104 µl/mL for AP.
Conclusion & Significance: Now days the study of antibacterial agents has become an important issue, due to the constant development of resistance from microorganisms to conventional antimicrobials. Consequently, search for new agents, those of plant origin must be emphasized, thus, results observed in this investigation might be of interest for the natural products research.
E-mail: janne.rojas24@gmail.com
