Chemical composition, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity of essential oils of algerian thymus vulgaris l

Abstract

This study analyzed chemical composition of the essential oils (EOs) of Thymus vulgaris L., harvested in two regions of northwest Algeria (Tlemcen and Mostaganem), and evaluated their antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity. Fifty-one compounds representing 99.99% and 100% of total thyme oil of Mostaganem (EO.TM) and Tlemcen (EO.TT), respectively were identified by GC-FID and GC-MS. Carvacrol was a dominant compound in both oils (89.15 and 82.42%). The antimicrobial activity, demonstrated by disc diffusion and broth macrodilution methods, showed a strong inhibitory effect of the oils on seven reference strains tested and particularly on Bacillus cereus ATCC 10876 and Candida albicans ATCC 10231. A cytotoxicity assay for two normal and two cancer cell lines indicated the highest sensitivity of canine B-cell lymphoma cell line (CLBL- 1) for which IC50 values were 35.39 ± 9.0 (EO.TT) and 84.51 ± 3.2 (EO.TM). Murine fibroblast cell line (3T3), with IC50 116.97 ± 2.7 for EO.TT and 146.29 ± 0.5 for EO.TM was the most resistant line.