Chemical Composition, Antimicrobial, Repellent and Antioxidant Activity of Essential Oil of Zanthoxylum caribaeum Lam

Abstract

Compounds extracted from essential oil of the species Zanthoxylum caribaeum were analysed by GC-MS and tested to measure the antimicrobial potential of this oil by microdilution method in broth against standard microorganisms, determine the oil antioxidant activity by the free radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) capture method and evaluate Dermanyssus gallinae (Panzer) (Acari: Dermanyssidae) mite repellency, tested in a Y-tube olfactometer. The GC-MS analysis identified 20 constituents, all terpenes representing 75.46 % of the essential oil total composition. The main compounds identified were α-panasinsene (12.75 %), viridiflorene (11.23 %), β-elemene (10.61 %) and β-selinene (8.72 %); all others were sesquiterpenes and a diterpene. Regarding antimicrobial activity, the essential oil was effective against all Gram-positive bacteria tested and Gram-negative strains of Salmonella enterica. The antioxidant activity values showed that there was no considerable difference between butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and essential oil, revealing its high antioxidant capacity of 90.22 %. In addition, the oil presented a repellent action of 79 % to the D. gallinae mite in the olfactometer tests. Finally, the study contributed to the chemical and biological characterization of the essential oil of Z. caribaeum, reporting for the first time repellent activity against D. gallinae.