Study on essential oil composition and antimicrobial, antioxidant activities of Bupleurum multinerve L.

Bupleurum has been widely used for over 2,000 years in Asia. Bupleurum multinerve is one of the endemic plants of Mongolia, which is a popular plant used in Mongolian traditional medicine. A number of essential oils from Mongolian aromatic plants are claimed to have antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. The chemical composition of essential oil from Bupleurum multinerve was determined by GC/MS-analysis. Among the 36 components germacrene-D (19.40%), trans-beta-ocimene (18.63%), beta-myrcene (9.13%) and limonene (7.81%) were found to be the major ones. Essential oil was investigated for activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtitilis by using an agar dilution method. Interestingly, Bupleurum multinerve oil even showed antimicrobial activity against methicilin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA4) strains. Antioxidant activity of ethanolic extract from B.multinerve was evaluated by using DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazine) radical scavenging assay with an IC50 value of 63.83µg/ml.