Chemical Composition, Biological Activities, and Toxicity Study of Carduncellus pinnatus Essential Oil from West Algeria

Abstract

Background: Many species have already been examined regarding their biological activities, but there are nevertheless many more which merit examination, among them Carduncellus pinnatus (Desf), which is one of the less abundant and the less frequent aromatic plants of Asteraceae species, it is one of the species widely distributed in the Mediterranean region. In the present investigation, chemical composition of essential oils of Carduncellus pinnatus and their antioxidant, antimicrobial and antifungal activities were investigated for the first time. Methods: The chemical composition of the essential oils of Carduncellus pinnatus was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography, mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) during its vegetative cycle. The antioxidant properties were evaluated by DPPH-radical scavenging and FRAP methods. The essential oil was tested on two-gram positive bacteria, three-gram negative bacteria, two filamentous fungi and one yeast. The toxicity of this essential oil was evaluated from several experiments on five mice tested in the laboratory. Results: The chemical composition of essential oils studied by GC and GC-MS showed a total of twenty-seven compounds constituted mainly by Aplotaxene. Harvest time affected quantitatively but not qualitatively the chemical composition of essential oils. The results showed that Carduncellus pinnatus presented interesting antioxidant properties. In order to assess the biological activities of Carduncellus pinnatus, all essential oil samples were combined together to produce a collective essential oil (Coll EO). The Coll EO showed activity on all tested bacterial strains based on the inhibition diameters obtained. The most interesting antimicrobial activity has been observed against Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus with IC50s 0.4, 1.2 and 1.2 g/L, but which remains weak compared to the Gentamicin control, respectively). Regarding antifungal activity, the largest inhibition was observed against Fusarium solani (IC50= 0.8 g/L). On the other hand, the toxicity test of Coll EO showed no mortality rate to the concentration of 1g/kg injected into the mice Conclusion: The results presented here constitute new findings in the field of the chemical characterization and biological potential of Carduncellus pinnatus.