Contribution of Essential Oils to the Fight against Microbial Biofilms—A Review

Diana Camelia Nuță; Carmen Limban; Cornel Chiriță; Mariana Carmen Chifiriuc; Teodora Costea; Petre Ioniță; Ioana Nicolau; Irina Zarafu

LAPSE

Living Archive for Process Systems Engineering

LAPSE:2023.24905

Published Article

LAPSE:2023.24905

Contribution of Essential Oils to the Fight against Microbial Biofilms—A Review

Diana Camelia Nuță, Carmen Limban, Cornel Chiriță, Mariana Carmen Chifiriuc, Teodora Costea, Petre Ioniță, Ioana Nicolau, Irina Zarafu

March 28, 2023

The increasing clinical use of artificial medical devices raises the issue of microbial contamination, which is a risk factor for the occurrence of biofilm-associated infections. A huge amount of scientific data highlights the promising potential of essential oils (EOs) to be used for the development of novel antibiofilm strategies. We aimed to review the relevant literature indexed in PubMed and Embase and to identify the recent directions in the field of EOs, as a new modality to eradicate microbial biofilms. We paid special attention to studies that explain the mechanisms of the microbicidal and antibiofilm activity of EOs, as well as their synergism with other antimicrobials. The EOs are difficult to test for their antimicrobial activity due to lipophilicity and volatility, so we have presented recent methods that facilitate these tests. There are presented the applications of EOs in chronic wounds and biofilm-mediated infection treatment, in the food industry and as air disinfectants. This analysis concludes that EOs are a source of antimicrobial agents that should not be neglected and that will probably provide new anti-infective therapeutic agents.

Record ID

LAPSE:2023.24905

Keywords

antimicrobial, bacterial biofilm, essential oils, medical devices

Subject

Biosystems

Suggested Citation

Nuță DC, Limban C, Chiriță C, Chifiriuc MC, Costea T, Ioniță P, Nicolau I, Zarafu I. Contribution of Essential Oils to the Fight against Microbial Biofilms—A Review. (2023). LAPSE:2023.24905

Author Affiliations

Nuță DC: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, TraianVuia no.6, 020956 Bucharest, Romania
Limban C: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, TraianVuia no.6, 020956 Bucharest, Romania
Chiriță C: Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, TraianVuia no.6, 020956 Bucharest, Romania
Chifiriuc MC: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, Universtity of Bucharest, AleeaPortocalelor no.1-3, 060101 Bucharest, Romania [ORCID]
Costea T: Department of Pharmacognosy, Phytochemistry, Phytotherapy, Faculty of Pharmacy, “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, TraianVuia no.6, 020956 Bucharest, Romania [ORCID]
Ioniță P: Department of Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry and Catalysis, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, Regina Elisabeta no.4-12, 030018 Bucharest, Romania [ORCID]
Nicolau I: Department of Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry and Catalysis, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, Regina Elisabeta no.4-12, 030018 Bucharest, Romania
Zarafu I: Department of Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry and Catalysis, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Bucharest, Regina Elisabeta no.4-12, 030018 Bucharest, Romania [ORCID]

Journal Name

Processes

Volume

9

Issue

3

First Page

537

Year

2021

Publication Date

2021-03-18