Chemical Composition, in vitro Antioxidant, Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Activities of Mentha spicata Essential Oil: A Review

Abstract

This work is a review of the results of some studies conducted around the world on the essential oil ofMentha spicata. Thus, chemical analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) have identified several compounds in the oil. Among the main ones, we cited carvone, limonene, germacrene D, β-caryophyllene, menthone and 1,8-cineole. Indeed, the evaluation of the antioxidant activity of the essential oil by the DPPH test revealed a difference in the results that is probably due to the diversity of the chemical composition, factors and according to the region. As well as, the ABTS test results revealed that the essential oil ofMentha spicata possessed reasonable antioxidant activity. This could be attributed to the presence of a large amount of carvone. In addition, the evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of the essential oil by the technique of aromatogram and the determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) showed that it possessed a great inhibitory power on Gram positive bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus cereus, and Streptococcus mutans, and Gram negative bacteria like Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pasturella multocida, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella. As well as on fungi such as Mucor mucedo, Rhizopus solani, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, and Alternaria alternate. In another way, the results of cytotoxic activity using MTT assay showed that Mentha spicata essential oil had a potent cytotoxic action on KB and HeLa cells.