Caracterização fitoquímica de extrato e óleo essencial da Lippia alba com potencial atividade antimicrobiana.

Abstract

From the beginning, mankind realized that plants had healing power. This culture has been passed on for generations and has improved today, increasingly seeking to reduce the damage caused by conventional drugs and introduce therapeutic alternatives in the clinic, able to minimize undesirable effects such as bacterial resistance. Lippia alba native Brazilian plant, popularly known as Lemon balm, has numerous benefits related to the resistance of microorganisms, both its various types of extracts and its essential oil. Given the above, the objective was to perform the phytochemical characterization and evaluate its antimicrobial potential. For this, samples were collected from the plant and produced its hydroalcoholic extract, in which phytochemical tests were performed as well as extraction of its essential oil by Clevenger apparatus, microbiological tests were performed using the plate microdilution technique and identification of Concentration. Minimal Inhibitory (MIC), testing on pathogenic fungi strains, where were five species of genus Candida and one of Cryptococcus neoformans and thus discover the antimicrobial activity of these two solutions. The results of the research regarding the phytochemistry detected the presence of alkaloids and tannins, which suggested their antimicrobial activity correlated with the results obtained in the microbiological analyzes in which both the extract and the oil were positive for Cryptococcus neoformans. thus, for the use of this plant as antimicrobial. Thus, the importance of phytochemical and microbiological characterization of plants commonly used by traditional medicine is emphasized in order to ensure their rational use.