Antimicrobial, acetylcholinesterase and antioxidant activities of essential oils from Allium sativum, Coriandrum sativum and Anethum graveolens

Essential oils have received attention because they contain a variety of terpene and phenylpropanoid compounds that are responsible for their biological activities. Some plants, such as spices, are rich in these substances, in addition to being widely used in gastronomy. Therefore, the chemical composition and the antioxidant, anticholinesterase and biological activities of the essential oils from Allium sativum, Coriandrum sativum and Anethum graveolens against the bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and the fungi Aspergillus carbonarius and Aspergillus ochraceus were evaluated. The essential oils were extracted using the hydrodistillation technique and characterized by GC-MS and GC-FID. The principal constituents found were linalool, carvone and diallyl trisulfide in the essential oils from C. sativum, A. graveolens and A. sativum, respectively. C. sativum and A. graveolens were observed to be the most efficient in controlling bacterial growth, and the growth of both fungi was completely inhibited by the essential oil from A. sativum at all the concentrations tested. For C. sativum and A. graveolens, a dose-dependent relationship with the concentrations was observed for the antifungal activity. A decrease in acetylcholinesterase activity in the presence of the A. sativum oil was observed, and the IC50 was 9.67 µg mL-1. Satisfactory results in the antioxidant assay using thiobarbituric acid and in the reduction of the phosphomolybdenum complex were only observed with the oil from C. sativum. A. sativum was found to be the most promising species for the development of sanitizers, drugs and agrochemicals.