Analysis of the Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Activity, Cytotoxic, and Anti-Migratory Properties of the Essential Oils Obtained from Cultivated Medicinal Lamiaceae Species

This study aims to highlight the therapeutic potential of some Lamiacea essential oils (EOs). For this purpose, eight EOs, including two from Lavandula angustifolia Mill. cultivated in Romania and Spain (LA1 and LA2), Salvia officinalis L. (SO), Lavandula hybrida Balb. ex Ging (LH), Salvia sclarea L. (SS), Mentha smithiana L. (MS), Perovskia atriplicifolia Benth. (PA), and Mentha x piperita L. (MP), were evaluated in vitro in terms of antioxidant, cytotoxic, antimicrobial, and anti-migratory activities. As regards the antioxidant capacity, expressed as the EO concentration that produces 50% of the maximum effect (IC50 value), the EOs obtained from the cultivated plants of the Lamiaceae family are ordered as follows: LA2 ˃ LA1 ˃ LH > MP > MS > SO > SS > PA. For the determination of antimicrobial activity, the reference strains used for testing were Salmonella enterica serotype typhimurium, Shigella flexneri serotype 2b, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, and Candida parapsilosis. The most intense inhibitory effect was observed in EOs of MS and MP on all tested microbial strains. The cytotoxic and anti-migratory activity of EOs was tested on two melanoma cell lines (A375 and B164A5) and on a healthy keratinocyte line (HaCaT). EOs LA1 and MP manifested the highest selectivity on the analysed tumoural cells, by reducing their migration in comparison with the control, proving to have therapeutic potential.