Inhibition of sinusitis pathogens with essential oils and their components

Sinusitis is one of the most common upper respiratory tract diseases, which requires antibiotic treatment and usually results from bacterial infection. In recent years, due to the increase in antibiotic-resistant infections, studies in the search for new drugs to fight infections have gained importance. Due to their antimicrobial properties, essential oils have an important impact and have been used particularly for food, cosmetic and therapeutic purposes for centuries. The essential oil bearing plants Lavandula stoechas L. (Spanish lavender), Mentha spicata L. (Spearmint) and T. sipyleus subsp. sipyleus Boiss. var. sipyleus L. (Thyme) of Lamiaceae, which are used for the treatment of sinusitis in Turkish folk medicine were evaluated in the scope of this thesis. Major components of essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation were determined by Gas Chromatography/Flame Ionization Dedector (GC/FID) and Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) methods. The antimicrobial activity of essential oils and their main components were tested against the common sinusitis pathogens standard strains of S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, M. catarrhalis, S. pyogenes, S. aureus and P. aeruginosa by the agar diffusion, microdilution and vapor diffusion methods. Major components of L. stoechas, M. spicata and T. sipyleus essential oils were determined as camphor (46.7 %), carvone (60.6 %) and thymol (66.2 %) respectively. As a result of the tests in agar diffusion method in the concrentration of 10 mg/ml essential oils and major components were obtained increased up to 1.8 cm inhibition zone diameters. In the microdilution method, substances were found to be effective at concentrations ranging from 0.16 and 1.25 mg/ml against the tested isolates. In the antimicrobial activity of the vapor phase method of essential oils and major components were observed in Thymus species and thymol was created the zone of inhibition, remarkably. As a result, L. stoechas, M. spicata, and T. sipyleus collected from their natural habitats, which are natively used against sinusitis were shown in this present study to be effective antimicrobial against selected pathogens.