Biological Characterization and Essential Oil Profiles of Eastern European Cultivars of Thymus, Satureja, and Monarda

TL;DR

This study examines the essential oil profiles and biological activities of eight Eastern European cultivars of Thymus, Satureja, and Monarda, highlighting their antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties.

Contribution

The paper introduces newly bred cultivars and provides detailed chemical and biological data on their essential oils.

Findings

Thymus and Satureja cultivars are rich in thymol and carvacrol, showing strong antimicrobial activity.

Monarda cultivars also exhibit significant antibacterial and antifungal properties with low minimal inhibitory concentrations.

Essential oils at 0.4 µL/mL showed cytotoxic effects on bull spermatozoa.

Abstract

Thymus, Satureja, and Monarda are three plant genera, belonging to the Lamiaceae family, that are particularly valued for their essential oils (EOs) abundant in phenolic terpenoids. In this study, a botanical characterization of the following eight Eastern European cultivars (some of them newly bred) grown in Ukraine is distinguished: Thymus vulgaris (‘Yalos’, ‘101’), Thymus richardii (‘Fantasia’), Satureja montana (‘Krymsky smaragd’, ‘Lunata’, ‘4-18’), Monarda fistulosa (‘Premiera’), and Monarda × hybrida hort., which is a Monarda didyma × Monarda fistulosa hybrid (‘Tonya’). The EO of those cultivars was obtained and characterized in detail using GC-MS and GC-FID. Additionally, some biological activities of these oils were tested. Antimicrobial activity was verified against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans using disk diffusion and microdilution methods. Furthermore, some preliminary tests were performed on the motility of bull sperm using the CASA system. All the Thymus cultivars were very rich in thymol (57.99–67.62%), and all the S. montana cultivars were very abundant in carvacrol (62.22–75.53%). M. fistulosa cv. ‘Premiera’ contained mainly thymol (49.87%), and M. × hybrida cv. ‘Tonya’ contained both thymol (46.70%) and carvacrol (10.37%). All the tested EOs, as well as thymol and carvacrol, exhibited strong antibacterial and antifungal action with minimal inhibitory concentrations ranging from <0.25–0.5 mg/mL for Satureja, through <0.25–0.5 mg/mL for Monarda, to 0.5–4 mg/mL for Thymus. The EOs, at a concentration of 0.4 µL/mL, exhibited cytotoxicity towards bull spermatozoa when compared to the control sample.

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