Chemical composition and biological activity of essential oil from anise hyssop.

Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum (Pursh) Kuntze) is a perennial plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family mainly used in folk medicine to treat various ailments. This study determined the chemical composition of the essential oil and evaluated its antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. The essential oil was obtained from plants cultivated in the experimental field at the Institute of Roses, Essential and Medical Plants, Kazanlak, Bulgaria. The plants were processed by steam distillation, with the essential oil yielding 0.37%, and its main components being methyl chavicol (82.03%) and limonene (9.90%). The most potent antimicrobial action was observed against the gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (25.7 mm inhibition zone) and Bacillus cereus (12.3 mm), the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (16.3 mm) and Candida albicans (16.5 mm). The remaining gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus epidermidis and Bacillus subtilis), gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Salmonella ebony), and fungi (Aspergillus brasiliensis and Fusarium moniliforme) were resistant to the action of the essential oil. The antioxidant activity of the essential oil was ABTS (32.36 µmol TE/mL), DPPH (21.61 µmol TE/mL), CUPRAC (19.94 µmol TE/mL), and FRAP (29.56 µmol TE/mL) in vitro. Overall, the results from this study revealed the biological potential of anise hyssop as a source in pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]