Artemisia antimicrobial activities

Vega AE, Wendel GH, Maria AO, Pelzer L. (2009) Antimicrobial activity of Artemisia douglasiana and dehydroleucodine against Helicobacter pylori. J Ethnopharmacol 124 653-655. 

Zheng, W.F. et al., Two flavones from Artemisia giraldii and their antimicrobial activity, Planta Med, 62, 160, 1996. 

Volatile or essential oils, as their name implies, are volatile in steam and are generally complex mixtures of hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds derived from these hydrocarbons. The odour and taste of volatile oils is mainly determined by these oxygenated constituents. In chemical structure, most essential oils are terpenoids in origin. Testing and evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of essential oils is difficult because of their volatility, their water insolubility and their complexity. However, in recent years a large number of studies have been conducted on the antimicrobial activity of essential oils from the Anthemideae tribe. These reports concerned mainly the genera Achillea and Artemisia. 

Karamenderes et al. [67] reported the composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils obtained from Achillea millefolium L. subsp. pannonica (Scheele) Hayek, Achillea millefolium subsp. millefolium, Achillea arithmifolia Waldst Kitt and Achillea kotschyi Boiss. subsp. kotschyi, four Achillea species from Turkey. 1,8-cineole, Fig. (2), artemisia alcohol and ascaridole were identified as major components. The essential oils showed antibacterial and antifungal effects even with low concentrations. The essential oil of the flowering tops of another Achillea species, Achillea fragantissimum (Forsk.) Sch. Bip growing in Sinai, was analyzed [68]. Santolina alcohol, a- and P-thujone, Fig. (5) and artemisia ketone account for approximately 80% of the oil. The oil showed marked antimicrobial activities against Escherichia coli. Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus. 

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae. Bacillus subtilis. Bacillus licheniformis, Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The oil was found to have antimicrobial and particularly antibacterial effects. The high content in monoterpene hydrocarbons seem to contribute to the strong antimicrobial activity of Artemisia annua. 

More recently, Cha et al. [82] investigated the chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils of Artemisia scoparia and Artemisia capillaris Thunb. The essential oil from Artemisia scoparia was rich in camphor. Fig. (1), 1,8-cineole, Fig. (2) and (3-caryophyllene. Fig. (3) as the major compounds, whereas Artemisia capillaris oil was rich in 3-pinene. Fig. (6), P-caryophyllene, Fig. (3) and capillene. The essential oils and some of their major compounds were tested for their antimicrobial activity against 15 different genera of oral bacteria. The essential oils exhibited considerable inhibitory effect against all the oral bacteria tested, while the major components demonstrated various degrees of growth inhibition. 

Two new flavones, 4 ,6,7-trihydroxy-3 ,5 -dimethoxyflavone and 5 ,5-dihydroxy-3 ,4 ,8-trimethoxyflavone, were isolated from Artemisia giraldii Pamp. [220]. These two new flavones showed antimicrobial activity towards Staphylococcus aureus, Sarcinia lutea, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus spp., Aspergillus flavus and Trichoderma viride. 

Cha JD, Jeong MR, Jeong SI, Moon SE, Kim JY, Kil BS, Song YH (2005) Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils of Artemisia scoparia and A. capillaris. Plemta Med 71(2) 186-190... 

Curini M, Epifano F, Genovese S, Tammaro F, Menghini L (2006) Composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of Artemisia dracunculus Piemontese from Italy. Chem Nat Compd 42(6) 738-739... 

Kim. J.-I. (2012). Anti-porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) activity and antimicrobial activities of Artemisia dubia essential oil. Han guk Misa. Saeng. Hak. 40(4), 396-402. 

Luqman S, Dwivedi GR, Dmokar MP et ai (2007) Potential of rosemary oil to be used in drug-resistant infections. Altem Ther Health Med 13 54-59 Mangena T, Muyima NYO (1999) Compeuative eveiluation of the antimicrobial activities of essential oils of Artemisia afra, Pteronia incana and Rosmarinus officinalis on selected bacteria and yeast strains. Lett Appl Microbiol 28 291-296... 

Other species from the Artemisia genus also yielded antimicrobial flavonoids. Flavonoids isolated from the Polish medicinal herbs Artemisia molinieri, Artemisia selengensis Turcz. ex Bess, and Artemisia stolonifera (Maxim.) Kom. showed antifungal activity against some species of phytopathogenic fungi [219]. 

Rashid, S., Rather, M. A., Shad, W. A., and Bhat, B. A. (2013). Chemical composition, antimicrobial, cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of the essential oil ol Artemisia indiaca Wild. FoodCh n. 138, 693-700. 

Lopes-Lntz, D., D.S. Alviano, C.S. Alviano, and P.P. Kolodziejczyk, 2008. Screening of chemical composition, antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of Artemisia essential oils. Phytochemistry, 69(8) 1732-1738. 

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