New Facts on the Antimicrobial Essential Oil of Satureja kitaibelii.

The objective of the present study was to assess the difference in antimicrobial activity of Satureja kitaibelii Wierzb. ex Heuff. essential oil at three growth stages. In addition, using statistical and chemometric tools, we tried to explain why the essential oil from a certain vegetation stage shows the highest antimicrobial activity. S. kitaibelii essential oils demonstrated minimum inhibitory concentration values from 160 to 10000 µg mL-1 , and minimum microbicidal concentration values from 630 to 20000 µg mL-1 . Geraniol, borneol, limonene and p-cymene are the dominant compounds of S. kitaibelii essential oil. The most abundant compound, geraniol, possesses antimicrobial activity in a range of MIC values from 40 to 5000 µg mL-1 and MMC values from 80 to 10000 µg mL-1 . The highest activity of essential oil for all tested strains of microorganisms was recorded in November. Results of statistical analysis indicate that the percentage of dominant compounds of essential oils does not affect the antibacterial activity of essential oils. Chemometric analyses leads to the conclusion that borneol, spathulenol, caryophyllene oxide and limonene can be the main contributors to the antibacterial activity of essential oil from November and that their mutual ratio is important. These results may represent a new methodological approach for future research on essential oils.

First Report about Mineral Content, Fatty Acids Composition and Biological Activities of Four Wild Edible Mushrooms.

The goal of this research was a comprehensive analysis of four wild edible mushroom species, Cantharellus cinereus, Clavariadelphus pistillaris, Clitocybe nebularis and Hygrocybe punicea, which have not been analyzed so far. Extracts of different polarities have been prepared and evaluated for their antioxidant activities by DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, TRP and CUPRAC methods. For all extracts, total phenolic content was determined. Based on the analysis, it was shown that solvent type had a significant effect on the antioxidant capacities of mushroom extracts, so water extracts showed the highest activity. Furthermore, the analysis includes determination of mineral composition, fatty acid profiles and antimicrobial activity. Unsaturated fatty acids, which are very important for human health, are dominant in the studied mushroom species. Linoleic and oleic acid consist of over 50 % of the total fatty acid composition. Seventeen biologically important and toxic elements have been analyzed by ICP-OES and ICP-MS and results showed that the element concentrations were species-dependent. Also, it has been found that analyzed mushrooms did not show any antimicrobial activity. Chemometric analysis was used to understand the connection between the extracts of different polarities.

Essential oil composition of Erica spiculifolia Salisb - first report.

The essential oil isolated from Erica spiculifolia Salisb. by hydrodistillation was analysed by GC-MS. One hundred compounds representing 92.6% of total oil were identified. Among the detected compounds 38 were monoterpenoids (46.2%), 30 were sesquiterpenoids (31.7%), 2 diterpene (0.4%) and 30 compounds (14.3%) were with various non-terpenoid structures. Oxygenated monoerpenes were by far the main class (45.3%) with α-terpineol (7.5%) endo-borneol (7.2%), pinocarveol (5.9%) and thymol (3.7%) as the major compounds. The predominant components of sesquiterpenes were caryophyllene oxide (5.0%), caryophyllene (4.2%), τ -murrolol (3.5%), spathulenol (2.9) and α-cadinol (2.3%).

Comparative Study of Fatty Acids Profile in Eleven Wild Mushrooms of Boletacea and Russulaceae Families.

Eleven species of wild mushrooms which belong to Boletaceae and Russulaceae families were examined by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis for the presence of fatty acids. As far as we know, the fatty acid profiles of B. purpureus and B. rhodoxanthus were described for the first time. Twenty-six fatty acids were determined. Linoleic (19.5 - 72%), oleic (0.11 - 64%), palmitic (5.9 - 22%) and stearic acids (0.81 - 57%) were present in the highest contents. In all samples, unsaturated fatty acids dominate. Agglomerative hierarchical clustering was used to display the correlation between the fatty acids and their relationships with the mushroom species. Based on the fatty acids profile in the samples, the mushrooms can be divided into two families: Boletaceae and Russulaceae families, using cluster analysis.