Atividade antioxidante, antimicrobiana e citotoxidade do óleo essencial do gênero Lippia spp.

Abstract

The genus Lippia is the second largest of the Verbenaceae family, possessing about 200 species of herbs. It stands out for the strong, pleasant aroma and its attractive aspect during the flowering period. The interest in the use of these plants is related to their biological activity, so the objective of this work was to evaluate the antioxidant potential, antimicrobial and cytotoxicity of the essential oil of Lippia spp. The antioxidant potential was determined by the DPPH method. To carry out the antimicrobial activity the disc diffusion test was performed, analyzing the microorganisms Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Cytotoxicity was performed by evaluating the mortality rate of Artemia Salina Leach nauplii. Lippia essential oil showed high antioxidant activity of 32,987.27 μg g-1, was also considered extremely sensitive to Staphylococcus aureus microorganisms at concentrations of 100%, 75% and 50%, for Escherichia coli was considered as sensitive at concentrations of 100 %, 75% and 50%. When evaluated by lethality bioassay against nauplii of A. salina Leach, it presented LD50 of 101.90 μgmL-1 and was considered as moderately toxic. The results indicate that the essential oil has a high antioxidant capacity of 329.87 μg TE100 g-1 of sample, as well as an antimicrobial activity against S. aureus, demonstrating the active biological potential of the essential oil studied.