Antimicrobial, antifungal and antiradical activities of the essential oils from the flower and leaf extracts of Iranian Ferulago macrocarpa plant

Aim: The essential oils (EOs) extracted from the flowers and leaves of Ferulago macrocarpa (Fenzl) Boiss (F. macrocarpa) plant were traditionally used to treat bacterial and fungal infections in the people of Lorestan Province, Iran for several centuries. The present study aims to analyse the EOs of flower and leaf extracts of F. macrocarpa using Gas Chromatography/Mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) technique and investigate their antibac-terial, antifungal and antiradical activities.Material and methods: Flowers and leaves of F. macrocarpa were collected from Lorestan, Iran. Oils were extracted by hydro-distillation and analysed by GC-MS. Antibacterial and antifungal activities of the oils were investigated against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Bacillus cereus (B. cereus), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Klebsiella pneumonia (K. pneumonia) and Candida albicans (C. albicans) pathogens. In addition, antiradical activity of the EOs was evaluated using in vitro DPPH assay.Results: EOs from the flowers were found to contain fifty-three identified components, representing 95.4 % of the total oil. The major compound was bornyl acetate (38.3 %), followed by terpinolene (10.9 %), octane (5.6 %), beta-pinene (4.4 %) and alpha-phellandrene (3.6 %). Forty-five components were identified in the leaf oil comprising 89.9 % of the total oil. Bornyl acetate (26.6 %), decane (11.4 %), dodecane (9.1 %), tetradecane (8.7 %), octane (4.5 %), germacrene D (3.9 %) and caryophyllene oxide (3.5 %) were prominent among the identified com-pounds. The EOs from the flowers exhibited potent activities against DPPH, S. aureus and B. cereus, while a weak inhibition was observed against C. albicans. The leaf EOs exhibited mild antiradical effects and no activity against the tested pathogens.Conclusion: These findings suggest that EOs from the flowers can be used to treat bacterial and fungal infections, and can be recommended to the traditional medicine users.