Chromatography analysis, in vitro antioxidant and antibacterial activities of essential oil of Artemisia herba-alba Asso of Boussaâda, Algeria

Abstract

Artemisia herba-alba Asso (Asteraceae family) is widespread in the semi-arid and arid steppes of North Africa. This plant is used for traditional treatment. The present study aims to investigate the chemical composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of A. herba-alba essential oil found in southwest Algeria (Boussaâda region). Artemisia herba-alba essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation method, and its chemical composition was identified by using GC/MS analysis. In addition, the antioxidant activity of the extracted essential oil was determined using the DPPH assay. The antimicrobial activity of the essential oil was determined by the agar disc diffusion method. The essential oil extracted from the aboveground portions by hydrodistillation was analyzed by GC/MS. 38 components were identified, making up 69.37% of the oil, the most important of which is thujone (9.875%), camphor (3.762%), cis-p-menthadien-1-of (3.572%), and isoborneol (2.334%). The observed IC50 values of the DPPH assay were 7.31 ± 0.088 mg/mL. On the other hand, this oil was active against all strains tested, this activity varied from 12.77 ± 0.510 mm on Listeria innocua CIP 74915. These results demonstrate that the plant tested could be a potential source of natural antioxidants and antimicrobial agents.