Secondary plant metabolities as antimicrobial agents

One of the oldest achievements of the human thought is the use of plants and plant extracts in therapeutics. Drugs of a plant origin are characterized by multieffects. In recent years, much interest was directed at medicinal plants containing a mixture of biologically active substances with antimicrobial properties. In medicine, for many years have been used substances extracted from plants and their secondary metabolites and plant extracts, but now due to the development of organic chemistry, pharmacology and medicine, we can determine which biologically active substances produced by these plants are useful. Antimicrobial activity were described for selected groups of plant secondary metabolites, which potentially would allow their use as antimicrobial substances in medicines. These substances can be complementary to basic medical treatment, because their main advantage is a lower incidence of side effects. This paper presents an overview of research on antimicrobial properties of alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, terpenoids and essential oils, phytosterols, and tannins and phenolic compounds. Examples of alkaloids active against strains of S. aureus, E. faecalis and E. coli are quindoline (1) and cryptolepine (2) which are components of an extract of Sida acuta [7]. Saal et al. described the effect of 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (8) and daphnetin (9) isolated from Gingo biloba. These compounds are characterized by activity against strains of the genus S. aureus, E. coli and Salmonella entertidis [5]. Apigenin (15) and amentoflavone (16) have a strong activity against pathogenic fungi Candida albicans, S. cerevisiae, and T. beigelii. Terpenoids are potent phorbol esters (21-26), dustanine (27), 15-acetoxydustaine (28), cycloartenole (29) [14]. Several phytosterols has antibacterial activity [2, 5, 48]. The examples might be: stigmasterol (36), β-sitosterol (37), epidoxysterol (38) isolated from Morinda citrifolia (Rubiaceae), which were characterized by strong activity against Mycobacterium intracellulare [5]. Many authors reported that the tannins and phenolic compounds were characterized by antimicrobial activity [49-53]. Natural substances that inhibit the growth of microorganisms are becoming an alternative to synthetic compounds, as this literature review confirms it

Essential oils as an active ingredients or preservativies in cosmetics

An important trend in current cosmetic industry is increasing demand for new, biologically active compounds and preservatives of natural origin. These products constitute a major ingredients of natural (organic) cosmetics and usually may also be used in typical cosmetics as functional additives. This work summarizes the perspectives of the use of essential oils as active ingredients and preservatives in cosmetic products and as biopesticides. Brief characteristics of essentials oils, their preparation and biological activity is provided. Literature data suggests that essential oils exhibit broad therapeutic effects including antibacterial, antiseptic, antifungal and antioxidant activity, they can be also used as transdermal enhancers. On the other hand, in essential oil have been found compounds which can be use as a biopesticides. The use of essential oils in cosmetic products is possible, but requires a detailed knowledge regarding their compatibility, active concentration as well as toxicological and skin irritant characteristics. The literature review, presented in this paper, shows the great potential of essential oils as a biologically active preservatives and antioxidants, repellents and transepidermal enhancers

Selected cooling compounds used in cosmetics

Menthol and new cooling compounds are widely used to improve modern toothpastes, gums, breath fresheners, cosmetic lotions, deodorants, shaving gels, and shaving aid composites. This paper reviews the use of menthol and new classes of cooling agents, that have been discovered since the 1970s, in cosmetic preparations. We have presented here 57 chemical structures. In addition, we briefly touch upon cold receptors and mechanism of action. Finally, we add up, recent findings on the production of cooling ingredients in the world. The underlying process in thermoreception depends on ion transport across cellular membranes. Thermoreceptors belong to a class of transient receptor potential (TRP) channels. Among them are temperature-sensitive thermoreceptors TRPM8 or TRPA 1. Certain types of chemical agonists activate the same thermoTRP channels, as for example menthol or icilin. Only the (–)-menthol enantiomer possesses clean, desirable minty odor and intense cooling properties (Fig. 1). Natural menthol is normally about 99.0% to 99.6% pure, with the remaining impurities being other constituents found in the cornmit oil. Synthetic (–)-menthol is normally about 99.8% pure and has less of the minty top note than the natural menthol. The other natural and synthetic compounds being menthol-related coolants are showed in Figure 3, as for example, menthone 1,2-glycerol ketal (17). From among 3-carboxamide-p-menthane derivatives as commercial cooling agents (Fig. 4), there are for example N-ethyl-pmenthane- 3-carboxamide (25) as WS-3 and [ethyl 3-(p-menthane-3-carboxamido) acetate] as WS-5, which is currently the coldest of all commercial cooling agents (27). Other examples of recently discovered carboxamide coolants belong to a series of analogs of WS-23 (28). Of particular interest are various aryl p-menthane-3- carboxamides, such as N-benzo[1,3]dioxol-5-yl-3-p-menthanecarboxamide (36), which was reported to have 100 times more cooling intensity than menthol (Fig. 6). In 2010, Furrer disclosed a series of new p-menthane carboxamide and WS-23 analogs as cooling agents [56]. Three particularly potential cooling agents 50, 51 and 52 are shown in Figure 9

Chemical composition and biological activity of medical lavender

Lavender Lavandula angustifolia Miller (formerly used synonym of L. officinalis Chaix or L. vera), commonly known as medical lavender is a species of greatest industrial importance. Lavender cultivated to be the most frequently due of the essential oil and the unique biological activity [1–4]. It is clear from the literature on the subject that lavender is characterized by its antimicrobial, antifungal, antioxidant, immunostimulating, and spasmolytic activity [5–18]. It is also claimed that it can be effective in preventing many illnesses. It is proved that lavender essential oil can be an effective drug in the treatment of many neurological disorders [13–18]. The research conducted on animals and humans exhibit activity this plant such as anxiolytic, sedative, sleep-inducing, analgesic, antitumor, anticonvulsant, and mood improving [13–26]. This paper presents an overview of the literature from recent years on the lavender [1–93]. The general characteristics of the plant and the main classes of biologically active substances are discussed. Drew attention to the need for standardization of plant and variety, identification of plant material for use in the following industries: pharmaceutical, chemical, cosmetic and food. It was found that there are few studies comparing the activity of different varieties of lavender. There is also little information about the chemical composition of different parts of the plant. There are current studies conducted towards natural synergies. This plant collects various types of biologically active substances that have therapeutic potential, but the lack of relevant information concerning dosage formulations lavender. Medical lavender (L. angustifolia Miller) has a great potential for future applications

Comparison of phenolic acids and flavonoids contents in various cultivars and parts of common lavender (<i>Lavandula angustifolia</i>) derived from Poland

<p>The aim of study was to compare the content of phenolic acids and flavonoids in two cultivars of <i>Lavandula angustifolia</i>: ‘Blue River’ and ‘Ellagance Purple’, including flowers and leafy stalks. Total phenolics and total flavonoids contents were determined by UV–Vis spectroscopy. The contents of total phenolics in leafy stalks (3.71–4.06 mg g⁻¹ d.m.) were higher than in flowers (1.13–1.14 mg g⁻¹ d.m.). Similarly, higher total contents of flavonoids were determined in leafy stalks (3.41–3.51 mg g⁻¹ d.m.), as compared with flowers (0.86–0.91 mg g⁻¹ d.m.). Phenolic acids and flavonoids were identified and quantified using HPLC and UPLC methods. Three phenolic acids were determined: rosmarinic, ferulic and caffeic acid. Lavender extracts contained also flavonoids from group of apigenin, luteolin and quercetin. Higher amounts of luteolin diglucuronide and luteolin glucuronide were found in leafy stalks in comparison to flowers. Obtained results indicate that leafy stalks of lavender can be also valuable source of antioxidant compounds.</p

Essential oil obtained from micropropagated lavender, its effect on HSF cells and application in cosmetic emulsion as a natural protective substance

<p>The aim of the study was to determine the influence of the essential oils isolated from the field – grown and micropropagated <i>in vitro</i> narrow – leaved lavender of the ‘Munstead’ cultivar, on human skin cells, and their capability to synthesise procollagen. The amount of procollagen type I produced by fibroblast cells was determined using ELISA kit. Essential oil isolated from micropropagated lavender was further used as a protective ingredient against the development of microorganisms in O/W cosmetic emulsion. The presented results demonstrate that the use of 0.01, 0.001 and 0.0001% essential oils isolated from <i>in vitro</i> plants stimulate HSF cells to the production of procollagen. It was further performed that the tested essential oil used in the concentration of 0.1% in a cosmetic emulsion is characterised by preservative effect for cosmetic preparations for the period of 3 months.</p

Jasmonic acid changes the composition of essential oil isolated from narrow-leaved lavender propagated in <i>in vitro</i> cultures

<p>The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of jasmonic acid added to the culture medium on composition of <i>Lavandula angustifolia</i> essential oils. The chemical composition was determined by gas chromatography coupled to mass detector (GC/MS). The experiment was conducted with the use of MS medium supplemented with increasing concentration of JA (0.2, 0.5, 1, 1.5 mg∙dm⁻³). It was found that the analysed essential oils varied in terms of chemical composition depending on the content of JA in the medium. All obtained essential oils were characterised by a high content of σ-cadinene (17.06–29.64%), borneol (6.66–17.47%), caryophyllene oxide (8.30–14.01%), τ-cadinol (4.87–9.16%), beta-caryophyllene (3.54–6.57%), 1.8-cineole (1.94–5.87%), β-pinene (1.48–3.05%), geranyl acetate (0.56–2.14%) and myrtenal (0.65–2.14%).</p