Antimicrobial activity of needle essential oil of Pinus peuce Griseb. (Pinaceae) from Macedonian flora

Abstract

Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of needle essential oil, obtained by hydrodistillation from wild Pinus peuce Griseb. (Pinaceae), growing on three different locations in R. Macedonia were investigated in period 2008/2009. Carried out GC/FID/MS analysis, one hundred and three constituents were identified belonging to the six different classes of components: monoterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoterpenes, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated sesquiterpenes, diterpenes and other non-terpene components, representing 88.61/94.04% of the entire oil. The most abundant constituents were α-pinene (12.89/27.34%), β-pinene (6.16/13.13%), limonene + β-phellandrene (2.09/6.64%) and bornyl acetate (2.92/11.67%) as well as trans-(E)-caryophyllene (4.63/7.13%) and germacrene D (8.75/20.14%). Antimicrobial screening of Pinus peuce needle essential oil was made by hole-plate diffusion and broth dilution method against 13 bacterial isolates of Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria and one strain of Candida albicans. The most sensitive bacteria against tested Pinus peuce essential oils were Streptococcus pneumonia encompassing Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus agalactiae, Acinetobacter spp. and Streptococcus pyogenes. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the oils ranged from 7.5 - 62.5 µl/ml.