Antifungal activities of the essential oil and its fractions rich in sesquiterpenes from leaves of Casearia sylvestris Sw.

Abstract

Casearia genus (Salicaceae) is found in sub-tropical and tropical regions of the world and comprises about 160-200 species. It is a medicinal plant used in South America, also known as "guaçatonga", "erva-detiú", "cafezinho-do-mato". In Brazil, there are about 48 species and 12 are registered in the State of Rio de Janeiro, including Casearia sylvestris Sw. There are many studies related to the chemical profile and cytotoxic activities of extracts from these plants, although few studies about the antifungal potential of the essential oil have been reported. In this work, we have studied the antifungal properties of the essential oil of C. sylvestris leaves, as well as of their fractions, against four yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisae, Candida albicans, C. glabrata and C. krusei) for the first time. The chemical analysis of the essential oil revealed a very diversified (n = 21 compounds) volatile fraction composed mainly of non-oxygenated sesquiterpenes (72.1%). These sesquiterpenes included α-humulene (17.8%) and α-copaene (8.5%) and the oxygenated sesquiterpene spathulenol (11.8%) were also identified. Monoterpenes were not identified. The fractions are mainly composed of oxygenated sesquiterpenes, and the most active fraction is rich in the sesquiterpene 14-hydroxy -9-epi-β-caryophyllene. This fraction was the most effective in inhibiting the growth of three yeast strains.

Casearia sylvestris essential oil and its fractions inhibit Candida albicans ABC transporters related to multidrug resistance (MDR)

“…Different parts of C. sylvestris are popularly used to treat several diseases, and previous studies have confirmed some of its biological activities, such as anti-tumor, anti-leishmania and antifungal (Ferreira et al 2011;Moreira et al 2019;Pereira et al 2017a).…”

“…However, despite many phytochemical studies with this species, there are few reports about the chemical profile of essential oils. In previous report we demonstrated that pure essential oil from fresh leaves of C. sylvestris, rich in α-humulene, as well as its fraction 1-6 rich in 14-hydroxy-9-epiβ-caryophyllene have antifungal activity (Pereira et al 2017a).…”

“…Fresh leaves of plant were used to obtain the essential oil by hydrodistillation as described in a previous work (Pereira et al 2017a). Essential oil was fractionated over silica gel column, resulting in fractions 1-6; 7-10; 11-13; 14-28; 29-56; 57-62; 87-88; 91-93, which that were analyzed by GC-MS (Pereira et al 2017a). Pure essential oil and its fractions were used for the tests.…”

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“…The fatty acids are active metabolites, and responsible for various medicinal properties, like hexadecanoic acid shows antibacterial and antifungal activity 27 and octadecanoic acid is antimicrobial in nature 28 palmitic acid and linolenic acid are known for their antibacterial and antifungal activity 29,30 . The essential oils are found to be rich in sesquiterpenes and responsible for anti-inflammatory 31 , antifungal 32, and anticancer activity 33 .…”

Transcriptome analysis of polycyclic sesquiterpene biosynthesis in Leonurus sibiricus L.

“…Polycyclic sesquiterpenes paly vital roles among these beneficial secondary metabolites. For instance, the essential oil mainly containing α-copaene of Casearia genu (a kind of medicinal plant used in South America) had a special antifungal properties [5]. The essential oil containing α-copaene and β-ylangene extracted from Syzygium aromaticum seed showed inhibitory activity for Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus [6].…”