Antibacterial and Antiviral Properties of Pinus densiflora Essential Oil

• Published in: Foods Vol. 12; no. 23; p. 4279
• Main Authors: Oh, Yu Jin, Kim, Yeong-Su, Kim, Jae Woo, Kim, Dae Wook
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 27.11.2023
• Subjects: antibacterial; Antimicrobial activity; Antimicrobial agents; Antioxidants; antiviral; Antiviral activity; Bacteria; Cancer; Cell culture; Chemical composition; Coronaviruses; Cytotoxicity; Dilution; Disinfectants; essential oil; Essential oils; Food; Food additives; Fungi; Gas chromatography; gas chromatography–mass spectrometry; Gram-positive bacteria; Herbal medicine; Infections; Influenza; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Microorganisms; Minimum inhibitory concentration; Mountains; Natural & organic foods; Penicillin; Pine needles; Pine trees; pine trunk oil; Pinus densiflora; Propanol; Viruses; United States > US; Pinus densiflora; fungi; antiviral; gas chromatography–mass spectrometry; pine trunk oil; antibacterial; functional food; essential oil; herbal medicine; microassay
• ISSN: 2304-8158; 2304-8158
• DOI: 10.3390/foods12234279

The Korean mountains are home to the Korean red pine ( ). Pine needle oil has been used as a food additive and a traditional herbal medicine; however, any health-related properties of its trunk oil remain unknown. Herein, we assessed antibacterial and antiviral properties of essential oil extracted from the trunk of . Th extracted oil was hydrodistilled using a Clevenger apparatus and analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The antimicrobial activity of the oil was tested using the microbroth dilution technique against 10 bacterial species (6 g-positive and 4 g-negative) and fungi. The extract exerted strong antimicrobial activity against , , , , and (minimum inhibitory concentration = 10 mL/L). Additionally, it exhibited dose-dependent activity against influenza virus A and feline coronavirus. Furthermore, among 20 identified constituents accounting for 98.7% of the oil contents, the major components included 3-cyclohexene-1-methanol (10.12%), 2-(4-methylcyclohexyl)-2-propanol (9.09%), fenchone (8.14%), -isopropyltoluene (6.35%), and isothymol methyl ether (6.14%). The trunk essential oil showed antibacterial and antiviral activities that depended on its chemical composition and the microbial strains tested herein. The essential oil can be used as an antimicrobial agent and disinfectant.