Therapeutic Potential of Melaleuca alternifolia Essential Oil in New Drug Delivery Systems

Abstract

: Medicinal plants produce secondary metabolites with special biological activities, which may be used as new therapeutic alternatives. For instance, tea tree essential oil (TTO) was shown to exert antimicrobial, antifungal, anthelmintic, antiviral, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activities. Due to their thermal instability, active principles can be easily degraded by physicochemical processes; therefore, they must be protected to increase their time of action and improve their controlled release. The aim of this review is to report formulations making use of encapsulated TTO as the active ingredient. Micro and nanoencapsulated systems proved to be more thermostable than TTO and to exert better antimicrobial, antifungal, antiparasitic and larvicidal effects. Nanoencapsulation also reduced the oil toxicity. Emulsified and hybrid systems developed by various methods proved to be promising for the pharmaceutical industry, because they showed improved repellent, antibacterial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory activities. Liposomal formulations produced by hydration of lipid films exhibited constant rate of terpineol-4 release. In addition, their incorporation into biomaterials, such as sponges, nanofibers and films, showed great potential for treating infections. Mainly due to the advantages of their incorporation into new drug delivery systems over conventional formulations, there is interest in the development of systems containing TTO as a pharmaceutical ingredient of plant origin.

Preliminary Studies on the Formulation of Vaginal Suppositories with Liposomal Oregano Oil

“…The electric charge of the surface is negative (-20.43 V), which means increased stability of liposomes with oil of oregano formulated over time [37][38][39][40][41]. [38].…”

“…The idea to include oregano oil in liposomes and the liposomal formula obtained in vaginal suppositories also came from the need to increase the control of the release of volatile oil at the level of the vaginal mucosa [39]. According to the authors Assis K.M.A et al, 2020 the inclusion of volatile oils in liposomal formulas leads to a controlled and sustained release of them and also reduces their possible toxic potential [40,42].…”

Atividade antimicrobiana de óleos essenciais frente a bactérias patogênicas de importância clínica

“…Os líquidos oleosos aromáticos da planta do gênero Melaleuca são extraidos de suas folhas (Mervyn et al, 2017). Seus principais componentes são monoterpenos, entre eles o terpinen-4-ol (De Assis et al, 2020). Essa substância tem propriedades antibacteriana com efetividade contra S. aureus e C. albicans (Cordeiro et al, 2020, Correa et al, 2020.…”

Tea Tree Oil Prevents Mastitis-Associated Inflammation in Lipopolysaccharide-Stimulated Bovine Mammary Epithelial Cells

“…Tea tree oil (TTO; terpinen-4-ol type), also known as M. alternifolia oil, is an essential oil from several plants of Melaleuca, of which the main one is M. alternifolia (5). TTO is widely used in many over-the-counter health products and cosmetics.…”