Bioactivities of the Various Extracts and Essential Oils of Salvia limbata C.A.Mey. and Salvia sclarea L.

The present study evaluated the in vitro antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antiviral activities of the essential oil and various extracts of Salvia limbata C.A.Mey. and Salvia sclarea L., as well as the content of its essential oil. The activities of essential oils were tested against a wide range of human-, plant-, and food-borne microorganisms. A total of 55 microbial organisms belonging to 35 bacteria and 19 fungi and yeast species were tested using disk diffusion, micro dilution, and micro-well dilution. The essential oils were found to possess antimicrobial activity against some of the tested fungi, while no activity was observed against the bacteria. The chemical compositions of the plant hydrodistilled essential oils were analyzed by means of GC-MS. The main compounds of Salvia species oils were spathulenol (29.30%) and germacrene D (24.72%). Other important components were sclareoloxide (14.08%) and b-caryophyllene (16.24%). The results showed that the compositions of the essential oils of these Salvia species varied significantly. Antioxidant activity was measured by 2 methods, namely scavenging of free radical DPPH and the inhibition of linoleic acid oxidation. In the b-carotene/linoleic acid system, values were 85.1% ± 1 and 76.6% ± 1, respectively, being comparable with that of the synthetic antioxidant BHT (96% ± 1). In antiviral activity assays, the MeOH extracts from Salvia species had a significant anti-influenza virus effect and limited antiherpetic activity.