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Abstract

The search for natural anti-microbials present in plants has been the target of intense scientific studies over the last years. The objective of this study was to assess the in-vitro antibacterial potential and in silico toxicology of the essential oil of Cinnamomum cassia (Chinese cinnamon) against E. coli and S. aureus strains. The essential oil was initially solubilized in tween 80 and dimethyl sulphoxide acid (DMSO). The antibacterial action was assessed by means of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) determined from the microdilution in double-concentrated brain heart infusion broth (BHI) and the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) which was determined by the depletion in nutrient agar (NA) technique with aliquots of 10µL of the MIC, MIC × 2 and MIC × 4. The MIC and the MBC presented satisfactory and varied results; the E. coli LPM 4459, LPM 1243, LPM 4010 and LPM 4896 strains, had a MIC of 256 µg/mL and MBC of 512 µg/mL respectively. As for the E. coli LPM 2810 and S. aureus LPM 55 strains, they showed a MIC of 128 µg/mL and MBC of 256 µg/mL. In the in silico toxicological analysis, a toxic potential was observed only in the p-Cymene and 3-Carene fractions. However, in the p-Mentha-1,4(8)-dien fraction there was no evidence of toxicity. Therefore, the essential oil of Cinnamomum cassia has satisfactory anti-bacterial activity, in addition to having a low theoretical oral toxicity when compared to other compounds commonly used in the therapeutics of bacterial infections.