Chemical Constituents and Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Activities of Essential Oil from Dried Seeds of Xylopia aethiopica .

The study aimed to investigate the chemical composition and antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of the essential oil from dried seeds of Xylopia aethiopica . The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC/FID and GC/MS. The essential oil yield was 1.35%. Forty-nine compounds were identified in the essential oil with 1,8-cineole (16.3%), β -pinene (14.8%), trans -pinocarveol (9.1%), myrtenol (8.3%), α -pinene (5.9%), and terpinen-4-ol (5.6%) as major components. The antimicrobial activity of this essential oil was studied using disk diffusion and broth microdilution methods on four bacteria ( Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ) and one fungus (Candida albicans) . The essential oil exhibited excellent activity against S. aureus , E. faecalis , and C. albicans and moderate activity against E. coli . Among all strains tested, C. albicans showed the best sensitivity with a MIC of 50 mg/mL. The antioxidant activity was examined using a DPPH-free radical scavenging assay. The essential oil of X. aethiopica showed low antioxidant activity (IC 50  = 784.604 ± 0.320 mg/mL) compared to that of ascorbic acid and the reference compound (IC 50  = 0.163 ± 0.003 mg/mL). The results indicate that consumption of X. aethiopica seeds can reduce the virulence of food-borne pathogens and their resistance to antibiotics.