Chemical Composition of Essential Oils of Bulbs and Aerial Parts of Two Cultivars of Allium sativum and Their Antibiofilm Activity against Food and Nosocomial Pathogens

Filomena Nazzaro; Flavio Polito; Giuseppe Amato; Lucia Caputo; Rosaria Francolino; Antonio D'Acierno; Florinda Fratianni; Vincenzo Candido; Raffaele Coppola; Vincenzo De Feo

doi:10.3390/antibiotics11060724

Chemical Composition of Essential Oils of Bulbs and Aerial Parts of Two Cultivars of Allium sativum and Their Antibiofilm Activity against Food and Nosocomial Pathogens

Antibiotics (Basel). 2022 May 27;11(6):724. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics11060724.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Food Sciences, CNR-ISA, Via Roma, 64, 83100 Avellino, Italy.
² Department of Pharmacy, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy.
³ Department of European and Mediterranean Culture, University of Basilicata, Via Lanera, 20, 75100 Matera, Italy.
⁴ Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, Italy.

Abstract

This work aimed to evaluate the chemical composition of the essential oils (EOs) of two cultivars of Allium sativum and their antibiofilm activity against the food pathogens Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus. The crystal violet assay ascertained the susceptibility of the bacterial biofilms, while the MTT assay let to evaluations of the metabolic changes occurring in the bacterial cells within biofilms. Their chemical composition indicated some sulfuric compounds (i.e., allicin, diallyl disulfide, and allyl propyl disulfide), and decene as some of the main components of the EOs. The aerial parts and bulbs' EOs from the two cultivars showed chemical differences, which seemed to affect the antibiofilm activity. The EOs from aerial parts of 'Bianco del Veneto' inhibited the biofilm formation of L. monocytogenes and E. coli (60.55% and 40.33%, respectively). In comparison, the 'Staravec' EO inhibited the cellular metabolism of E. coli (62.44%) and S. aureus (51.52%) sessile cells. These results indicate their possible use as preserving agents in the food industry and suggest their potential exploitation in the development of new formulations to avoid or limit nosocomial infections.

Keywords: Allium sativum; EO; biofilm; chemical composition; food pathogens.

Grants and funding

This research was partially supported by the projects : (1) ‘Sviluppo di alimenti funzionali per l’innovazione dei prodotti alimentari di tradizione italiana’ (‘Development of functional foods for the innovation of traditional Italian food products, ALIFUN’), financed by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (n◦A4 ARS01_00783) “; (2) “AgroBiodiversità Campana: moltiplicazione, conservazione e caratterizzazione di risorse genetiche vegetali erbacee autoctone”, project: P.S.R. 2014–2020, action 10.2.1 of the Campania Region, Italy (D.I.C.A. contract Regione Campania n° 2019.0582718).