Introduction:

The essential oil of Minthostachys mollis has demonstrated to have important antimicrobial properties.

Objective:

To chemically characterize the fractions obtained from the essential oil of Minthostachys mollis and to evaluate the antimicrobial activity against Streptococcus mutans, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Enterococcus faecalis, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Candida albicans.

Material and Methods:

The petroleum ether, dichloromethane and methanol fractions of the AE of M. mollis were chemically characterized by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The repetitions of the antimicrobial test were calculated using the EPIDAT v.4.2 program. The antimicrobial activity was performed by the disk diffusion method and the minimum inhibitory concentration was calculated by the microdilution method. The data were analyzed using the ANOVA test (p=0.05).

Results:

The main constituents of the petroleum ether, dichloromethane and methanol fractions were cis-Menthone (39,8 %), thymol (31,2 %) and α-Terpineol (43,6 %), respectively. All strains were sensitive to the three fractions, although C. albicans was the most sensitive strain, registering inhibition halos of 14,73±0.57 mm for the methanol fraction, 20,91±0.55 mm for petroleum ether and 20.38±0.58 mm for dichloromethane, finding significant differences when compared to 0,12 % Chlorhexidine and Nystatin (p<0,05). The minimum inhibitory concentrations of the fractions ranged from 0,2 to 3,2 µg/mL.

Conclusions:

The main constituents of the petroleum ether, dichloromethane and methanol fractions were cis-Menthone, thymol and α-Terpineol. The petroleum ether and dichloromethane fractions were highly effective in inhibiting the growth of S. mutans, L. acidophilus, E. faecalis, P. gingivalis, and C. albicans.

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