Inhibitory effect of β-pinene, α-pinene and eugenol on the growth of potential infectious endocarditis causing Gram-positive bacteria

Abstract

This study was led with the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of eugenol, β-pinene and α-pinene in inhibiting the growth of potential infectious endocarditis causing gram-positive bacteria. The phytochemicals Minimum Inhibitory Concentration-MIC was determined by solid medium diffusion procedure, while the interference of the MIC values on the bacterial cell viability was performed by viable cells count. Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae and S. pyogenes strains were used as test microorganisms. The assayed phytochemicals showed effectiveness in inhibiting all assayed bacteria strains presenting MIC values between 2.5 and 40 μL/mL. Eugenol showed the lowest MIC values which were between 2.5 and 5 μL/mL for the most bacteria strains. MIC values found to the phytochemicals were able to inhibit the cell viability of S. aureus providing a total elimination of the bacteria inoculum in a maximum time of 24 hours of exposure. These data showed the interesting antibacterial property of the assayed phytochemicals and support their possible and rational use in the antimicrobial therapy.