Essential oils of medicinal plants from the central andes of Argentina: Chemical composition, and antifungal, antibacterial, and insect-repellent activities

Abstract

We report the antifungal, antibacterial and insect repellent activities of essential oils from Acantholippia seriphioides, Artemisia mendozana, Gymnophyton polycephalum, Satureja parvifolia, Tagetes mendocina and Lippia integrifolia, collected in the Central Andes area, province of San Juan, Argentina. Dermatophytes Microsporum gypseum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes and T. rubrum were inhibited by essential oils from G. polycephalum, L. integrifolia and Satureja parvifolia (MIC between 31.2 and 1000 µg/ml). Moreover, all the essential oils presented moderate activity against the bacteria assayed. L. integrifolia and G. polychepahlum essential oils had excellent repellent properties against T. infestans, the Chagas’ disease vector, with repellency values between 60 and 100%. Acantholippia seriphioides, Gymnophyton polycephalum and Lippia integrifolia essential oils, obtained by hydrodistillation, were analyzed by GC–FID and GC–MS. The highest number of components (40) was identified in L. integrifolia essential oil which, along with that of A. seriphiodes, contained important amounts of oxygenated monoterpenes (44.35–29.72% respectively). Thymol (27.61%) and carvacrol (13.24%) were the main components in A. seriphiodes essential oil, and borneol, lippifoli-1(6)-en-5-one and terpinen-4-ol (>8.5%) in L. integrifolia essential oil. Our results support the idea that oxygenated monoterpenes are the bioactive fractions of essential oils. Finally, this study shows that these Andean species could be used in treatments for superficial fungal infections, and for improving the local Chagas disease situation by vector-control.