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ABSTRACTComposition and antimicrobial activity of root, leaf, stem, flower and fruit essential oils from cultivated Pastinaca sativasubsp. sativa, and its two wild-growing relatives P. sativasubsp. urensand P. hirsuta(Apiaceae) were investigated. Twenty-nine hydrodistilled essential oils of plants from different localities and/or years were analysed by GC-FID and GC/MS. Dominant in root oils was myristicin (P. sativa) or apiole (P. hirsuta), in leaf and stem oils myristicin (cultivated plants) or γ-palmitolactone (wild-growing plants) and in flower and fruit oils aliphatic esters. Multivariate statistics (PCA, nMDS, UPGMA clustering) generally revealed separation of oils of investigated Pastinacataxa and demonstrated their chemosystematic significance. One oil per each organ of all three plants (fifteen in total) was tested using microdilution method for activity against Candida tropicalis, C. parapsilosis, C. krusei, C. glabrata, C. albicans, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli, SalmonellaTyphimurium and Enterobacter cloacae; MIC = 0.25–8 mg/mL, MBC(MFC) = 0.5–16 mg/mL.

Fast inverted, oil-in-water (o/w) emulsions, also known as SWitch-Oil-Phase (SWOP) emulsions, express the performances of both o/w and water-in-oil (w/o) emulsions during application to the skin, favoring their use as cosmetic carriers in sunscreen products. The objective of this study was to investigate the antioxidant potential (by 2 different methods) and the ultraviolet (UV) absorption ability of SWOP emulsion (S) with incorporated plant-based antioxidants dihydroquercetin (DHQ) and β-carotene (βC), using quercetin (Q) in a reference emulsion, in addition to the evaluation of their physicochemical properties and stability. A new biochemical extracellular model for in vitroassessment of antioxidative properties for the SWOP emulsions (S, SQ, SDHQ, and SDHQβC) was developed and compared with the results of 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The analyses were performed at 20 °C and 37 °C, and oxidative stress parameters were monitored and statistically analyzed. The sun protection factor (SPF) of the samples was determined in vitro. Q and DHQ incorporated into the SWOP emulsion exhibited a strong DPPH radical scavenging ability. Neither incorporated nor pure βC showed DPPH radical scavenging ability at the tested concentrations. Contrary to that, in the bioenvironment conditions, SDHQβCshowed minor antioxidative effects increase and also a significant decrease in exogenous pro-oxidative effects, caused by pro-oxidant, when compared to SDHQ. The obtained SPFs of SDHQβC, SDHQ, and SQwere 5.19, 4.65, and 3.35, respectively. The physicochemical stability of the emulsions was satisfactory during 1 month storage. The presented results demonstrated that the SWOP emulsion is a suitable carrier for antioxidants with a photoprotective ability. The novel biochemical approach could be used in addition to DPPH assay with several advantages, relevant for the testing of antioxidant activity of potential active ingredients in cosmetic products.

Fatty acids (FAs), sterols, and triterpenes of dichloromethane extracts of the fruits of 8 HeracleumL. taxa (Apiaceae) from southeastern Europe were investigated by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry. In order to analyze the FAs, their volatile methyl esters were obtained by saponification and subsequent esterification of oily supernatants of the fruit extracts. Dominant was petroselinic acid (42.8%-56.5%), followed by linoleic (20.3%-33.3%) and oleic acids (12.3%-13.7%). Sterols and triterpenes were analyzed as volatile derivatives obtained by the silanization of residual unsaponifiable fractions. Among them, the most abundant was β-sitosterol (44.9%-56.9%), followed by stigmasterol (15.7%-25.0%), Δ7-stigmastenol (6.6%-12.5%), and campesterol (5.2%-8.1%). The quantity of petroselinic acid was also determined by the external standard method (298.8-433.4 mg/g of oily supernatant). The obtained results show that the investigated plants are potential valuable sources of the compounds utilized in different industries.

The objective of this research was to analyze the chemical composition, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity of Heracleum pyrenaicumsubsp. pollinianum(Bertol.) F. Pedrotti & Pignatti (HPP) and H. orphanidisBoiss. (HO) essential oils. The composition of the oils was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. β-Pinene (35.1%) was the most abundant compound in HPP root oil, while (Z)-falcarinol (80.0%) dominated in HO root oil. (E)-Nerolidol (28.5%) was the main constituent in HPP leaf oil. HPP fruit oil, as well as HO leaf and fruit oils mainly contained aliphatic esters, mostly octyl acetate (50.5–84.5%). Antimicrobial screening was performed by microdilution method against eight bacterial and eight fungal strains. The strongest antibacterial activity was shown by both root oils (MICs 0.02–0.60 mg/mL and MBCs 0.04–2.50 mg/mL for HPP, and MICs 0.02–1.25 mg/mL and MBCs 0.04–2.50 mg/mL for HO), while the best antifungal potential was exhibited by HPP fruit oil (MICs 0.30–0.60 mg/mL and MFCs 0.60–1.25 mg/mL) and HO leaf oil (MICs 0.15–0.63 mg/mL and MFCs 0.30–1.25 mg/mL). The tested root and fruit oils exhibited strong cytotoxic effect, which was determined by MTT test against HeLa (IC507.53–21.07 μg/mL) and LS174 (IC5024.16–58.86 μg/mL) cell lines.