Análise da composição química e atividade antimicrobiana do óleo essencial de Citrus limon Linn frente a microrganismos orais.

Abstract

The lemon (Citrus limon Linneo) is a plant native to Southeast Asia cultivated in all regions of the world. The oil extracted from the rind o f the ffuit is used for therapeutic purposes, in cooking, cosmetics and food industry, and has attracted interest from researchers around the world. The aim o f this study was to identify the Chemical constituents of the essential oil and evaluate in viíro their antimicrobial activity against microorganisms o f the oral cavity - Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sanguis, Streptococcus sobrinus, Candida krusei and Candida parapsilosis. The essential oil extraction was done through the process of hydrodistillation using Clevenger. The oil presented colorless, a relative density o f 0.8388 and a refractive index o f 1.467. The analysis o f Chemical composition performed by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) identified 21 compounds being the limonene concentration (63.22%), 1,4-cyclohexadiene, l-methyl-4-(l-methylethyl) . (13.20%) and 1,6-octadiene-3-ol, 3,7-dimethyl-(7.97%) the majority. The evaluation o f the in vitro antimicrobial activity o f essential oil, showed resistant strains o f S. mutans, S. sanguis, S. sobrinus to the oil and inhibitory activity against strains o f C. krusei and C. parapsilosis, with a zone of inhibition greater than 10 mm. It was concluded that essencial oil o f the Citrus Limon offered antifungal activity that suggests the use of these substances as an economic and viable kind of altemative to the control of candidosis.