Lavandula pedunculata subsp. atlantica: A Multifunctional Essential Oil for Potentially Combating Microbial Infections and Inflammatory Processes

The genus <i>Lavandula</i> L., belonging to the Lamiaceae family, contains about forty species with a distribution that mainly extends in the Mediterranean basin from the North Atlantic to the Middle East. Due to their excellent biological properties, the aerial parts and flowers of <i>Lavandula peduncolata</i> ssp. have been utilized in traditional medicine in Morocco and western Europe. This paper investigated the chemical composition and antibacterial activities as well as the antibiofilm and antioxidant activities of the essential oil (EO) obtained from the pre-flowering aerial parts of <i>Lavandula pedunculata</i> subsp. <i>atlantica</i> collected in Morocco. The chemical composition of the EO, obtained by classic hydrodistillation, showed by GC-MS analysis the presence of a large amount of oxygenated monoterpene compounds. The main constituents of the EO were camphor (27.8%), camphene (10.9%), fenchone (10.6%), and eucalyptol (8.5%). The EO has been evaluated for its antimicrobial, antibiofilm, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, showing promising activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains. These findings highlight the potential of <i>Lavandula</i> EO in combating infections caused by <i>Streptococcus mutans</i> and <i>Streptococcus oralis</i> (oral diseases), <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> (skin infections), <i>Escherichia coli</i> and <i>Shigella sonnei</i> (gastrointestinal and urinary infections). In addition, although the EO showed no evident effects on cell viability in eukaryotic epithelial cells, it exhibited promising effects on anti-inflammatory properties.