chemical composition, antimicrobial activity and antiviral activity of essential oil of carum copticum from iran

objectives: evaluation of therapeutic effects of carum copticum (c. copticum) has been the subject of several studies in recent years. thymol the major component of c. copticum is a widely known anti-microbial agent. in this study, the antibacterial and anti viral activities of essential oil of c. copticum fruit were determined. materials and methods: essential oil of c. copticum was analyzed by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (gc-ms). the antimicrobial activity of the oil was evaluated against six gram (+/-) bacteria and fungi, using the micro broth dilution technique. antiviral activity of the essential oil was evaluated using a bacillus phage cp51. results: from the ten identified constituents, representing 98.7% of the oil, thymol (72.3%), terpinolene (13.12%) and o-cymene (11.97%) were the major components. it was found that the oil exhibited strong antimicrobial activity againststaphylococcus aureus (s. aureus) andbacillus subtilis (b. subtilis) (mic, 0.00025% v/v). furthermore, the antiviral activity of the oil was evaluated by plaque reduction assay. conclusion: the essential oil showed an antiviral activity against phage when phage was pre-incubated with the essential oil prior to its exposure to b. cereus and without any pre-incubation with the phage, suggesting that the oil directly inactivated virus particles.