Comparative study of the antioxidant activity of the essential oils of five plants against the H2O2 induced stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The purpose of this work was to investigate the protective effect of five essential oils (EOs); Rosmarinus officinalis, Thymus vulgaris, Origanum compactum Benth., Eucalyptus globulus Labill. and Ocimum basilicum L.; against oxidative stress induced by hydrogen peroxide in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The chemical composition of the EOs was analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The in vitro antioxidant activity was evaluated and the protective effect of EOs was investigated. Yeast cells were pretreated with different concentrations of EOs (6.25–25 µg/ml) for an hour then incubated with H₂O₂ (2 mM) for an additional hour. Cell viability, antioxidants (Catalase, Superoxide dismutase and Glutathione reductase) and metabolic (Succinate dehydrogenase) enzymes, as well as the level of lipid peroxidation (LPO) and protein carbonyl content (PCO) were evaluated. The chemical composition of EOs has shown the difference qualitatively and quantitatively. Indeed, O. compactum mainly contained Carvacrol, O. basilicum was mainly composed of Linalool, T. vulgaris was rich in thymol, R. officinalis had high α-Pinene amount and for E. globulus, eucalyptol was the major compound. The EOs of basil, oregano and thyme were found to possess the highest amount of total phenolic compounds. Moreover, they have shown the best protective effect on yeast cells against oxidative stress induced by H₂O₂. In addition, in a dose dependent manner of EOs in yeast medium, treated cells had lower levels of LPO, lower antioxidant and metabolic enzymes activity than cells exposed to H₂O₂ only. The cell viability was also improved. It seems that the studied EOs are efficient natural antioxidants, which can be exploited to protect against damages and serious diseases related to oxidative stress.