Antiprotozoal Activity of Turkish Origanum onites Essential Oil and Its Components
1
Department of Pharmaceutical and Biological Chemistry, Centre for Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, School of Pharmacy, University of London, London WC1N 1AX, UK
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GEOMAR Centre for Marine Biotechnology, Research Unit Marine Natural Products Chemistry, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, 24106 Kiel, Germany
3
Kiel University, Christian-Albrechts-Platz 4, 24118 Kiel, Germany
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Department of Medical Parasitology and Infection Biology, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, CH-4051 Basel, Switzerland
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University of Basel, 4003 Basel, Switzerland
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Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Anadolu University, 26470 Eskisehir, Turkey
7
Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Near East University, 99138 Nicosia, N. Cyprus
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Thomas J. Schmidt and Luisella Verotta
Molecules 2019, 24(23), 4421; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24234421
Received: 18 October 2019
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Revised: 25 November 2019
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Accepted: 2 December 2019
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Published: 3 December 2019
(This article belongs to the Collection Natural Products as Leads or Drugs against Neglected Tropical Diseases)
Essential oil of Origanum species is well known for antimicrobial activity, but only a few have been evaluated in narrow spectrum antiprotozoal assays. Herein, we assessed the antiprotozoal potential of Turkish Origanum onites L. oil and its major constituents against a panel of parasitic protozoa. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation from the dried herbal parts of O. onites and analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID) and Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The in vitro activity of the oil and its major components were evaluated against Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, T. cruzi, Leishmania donovani, and Plasmodium falciparum. The main component of the oil was identified as carvacrol (70.6%), followed by linalool (9.7%), p-cymene (7%), γ-terpinene (2.1%), and thymol (1.8%). The oil showed significant in vitro activity against T. b. rhodesiense (IC50 180 ng/mL), and moderate antileishmanial and antiplasmodial effects, without toxicity to mammalian cells. Carvacrol, thymol, and 10 additional abundant oil constituents were tested against the same panel; carvacrol and thymol retained the oil’s in vitro antiparasitic potency. In the T. b. brucei mouse model, thymol, but not carvacrol, extended the mean survival of animals. This study indicates the potential of the essential oil of O. onites and its constituents in the treatment of protozoal infections.
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Keywords:
Origanum onites; Lamiaceae; Turkish oregano; essential oil; carvacrol; thymol; antiprotozoal; Trypanosoma
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MDPI and ACS Style
Tasdemir, D.; Kaiser, M.; Demirci, B.; Demirci, F.; Baser, K.H.C. Antiprotozoal Activity of Turkish Origanum onites Essential Oil and Its Components. Molecules 2019, 24, 4421. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24234421
AMA Style
Tasdemir D, Kaiser M, Demirci B, Demirci F, Baser KHC. Antiprotozoal Activity of Turkish Origanum onites Essential Oil and Its Components. Molecules. 2019; 24(23):4421. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24234421
Chicago/Turabian StyleTasdemir, Deniz, Marcel Kaiser, Betül Demirci, Fatih Demirci, and K. H.C. Baser. 2019. "Antiprotozoal Activity of Turkish Origanum onites Essential Oil and Its Components" Molecules 24, no. 23: 4421. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules24234421
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