The antibacterial mechanism of carvacrol and thymol against Escherichia coli
Abstract
AIMS: To investigate the antibacterial mechanism of carvacrol and thymol against Escherichia coli. METHODS AND RESULTS: The time-kill curve results showed that carvacrol and thymol at 200 mg l(-1) could inhibit the growth of E. coli. Flow cytometry and fluorescent dyes were used to explore the effect of two components on membrane permeability and membrane potential. In membrane permeability experiment, the mean fluorescence intensity of cells treated with 200 mg l(-1) carvacrol or thymol were lower than nonexposed cells. The ratio of red to green fluorescence intensity of DiOC2(3) reflected the change of membrane potential. Carvacrol and thymol at 200 mg l(-1) caused the ratio of red/green decreasing from 0.42 of control to 0.08 and 0.07, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Carvacrol and thymol had desired antimicrobial effect on E. coli. The antibacterial effects were attributed to their ability to permeabilize and depolarize the cytoplasmic membrane. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This study showed the potential use of flow cytometry as a suitable method to investigate the mode of antibacterial action of essential oil components.
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Carvacrol's effect on membrane permeability was confirmed by monitoring the efflux of H+, K+, carboxyfluorescein and ATP and the influx of nucleic acid stains.
“Carvacrol’s effect on membrane permeability was confirmed monitoring the efflux of H+, K+, carboxyfluorescein and ATP and the influx of nucleic acid stains [13,20,24,28,36].”
From Effect of essential oils on pathogenic bacteria (2013) · cites this paper as [28]
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- Authors
- Xu, J., Zhou, F., Ji, B.-P., Pei, R.-S., & Xu, N.
- Affiliations
- China Agricultural University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zhou, F.
- Venue
- Letters in Applied Microbiology
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2008-09
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 174-179
- ISSN
- 0266-8254 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-765X
- OpenAlex
- W1967067041
- Cited by
- 633
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 24 · 2025: 59 · 2024: 49 · 2023: 36 · 2022: 70 · 2021: 69 · 2020: 53 · 2019: 47 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 14.94
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Letters in Applied Microbiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Essential Oils and Antimicrobial Activity
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Antimicrobial agents and applications
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Insect Pest Control Strategies
- Keywords
- carvacrol, thymol, Escherichia coli, antibacterial mechanism, essential oils, membrane permeability, membrane potential, membrane permeabilization, time-kill kinetics
- MeSH terms
- Cymenes, Anti-Bacterial Agents, Cell Membrane Permeability, Escherichia coli, Flow Cytometry, Membrane Potentials, Thymol, Monoterpenes
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