Researchers examine the antibacterial activity of Indian wormwood vs. 9 pathogenic strains

Researchers from the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in India investigated the composition and antibacterial activity of Indian wormwood essential oil against nine pathogenic strains. Their findings were published in the Journal of Essential Oil Research.

• The researchers analyzed the composition of essential oil derived from the aerial parts of Artemisia nilagirica using GC-FID and GC-MS methods.
• They identified a total of 41 constituents, which accounted for 95.9 percent of the total composition of the essential oil:
  • Monoterpenoids (76.6 percent) represented by:
    • Artemisia ketone (62.6 percent)
    • Artemisia alcohol (3.7 percent)
    • Perillene (3.1 percent)
    • Bornyl acetate (1.4 percent)
  • Sesquiterpenoids (16.1 percent):
    • Beta-caryophyllene (3.5 percent)
    • Alpha-muurolol (3.5 percent)
    • Delta-cadinene (2.1 percent)
    • Germacrene D (1.8 percent)
• The researchers tested A. nilagirica essential oil against the following pathogenic strains:
  • Bacillus subtilis
  • Escherichia coli
  • Klebsiella pneumoniae
  • Pseudomonas aeruginosa
  • Salmonella typhimurium
  • Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 96)
  • S. aureus (MTCC 2940)
  • S. epidermidis
  • Streptococcus mutans
• Based on zone of inhibition and MIC/MBC results, the researchers confirmed that A. nilagirica essential oil has good antibacterial activity against B. subtilis and both strains of S. aureus.
• The essential oil also exhibited moderate antibacterial activity against E. coli, S. epidermidis, S. typhimurium, and S. mutans.

These findings suggest that A. nilagirica essential oil is an effective antibacterial agent against common human pathogenic bacteria.

Journal Reference:

Goswami P, Chauhan A, Verma RS, Padalia RC, Verma SK, Darokar MP, Chanotiya CS. COMPOSITION AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF THE ESSENTIAL OIL OF ARTEMISIA NILAGIRICA VAR SEPTENTRIONALIS FROM INDIA. Journal of Essential Oil Research. 2015;28(1):71–76. DOI: 10.1080/10412905.2015.1083489