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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Crop Biology and Sustainability
Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1511848
This article is part of the Research Topic Advancements in Post-Harvest Physiology and Technology of Fruits and Vegetables for Sustainable Food Production View all articles
Chemical profiling, safety assessment, bioactive properties, and molecular interactions of the essential oil derived from Mentha pulegium
Provisionally accepted
Sara Rached 1 Amar Habsaoui 1 Khaoula Mzioud 1
Mohammed Er-rajy 2
Feras Abujaber 3
Hamada Imtara 3*
Asmaa Oubihi 1 Sara Haida 1 Otman El-Guourrami 4
Omar M. Noman 5 Samah Ourras 1 Mahmoud Tarayrah 6 Mohamed Ebn Touhami 1- 1 Ibn Tofail University, Kénitra, Rabat-Sale-Kenitra, Morocco
- 2 Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fes, Morocco
- 3 Arab American University, Jenin, Palestine
- 4 Mohammed V University at Souissi, Rabat, Morocco
- 5 King Saud University, Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 6 National Center for Research in Human Genomics, Evry Courcouronnes, France
Mentha pulegium L., (MP) of the Lamiaceae family, endemic to Morocco, is a medicinal plant used in classical medicine. The aim of the present study is to enhance the value of this species by investigating the chemical composition of its essential oil (EO), antioxidant activity, toxicity, molecular docking and antimicrobial properties. In vitro measurement of antioxidant activity using the 2,2-diphenyl-1picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) reduction assay and the 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6sulphonic acid) (ABTS) assay demonstrated the plant's best performance. The toxicity test reveals that EO is non-toxic at an LD50 of 2000 mg/kg rat body weight. Evaluation of the in vitro antimicrobial effect by diffusion, direct contact, dilution and sporulation methods showed that all strains tested were sensitive to MP EO. Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values for clinical strains ranged from 2 mg/ml to 10 mg/ml. MP could therefore be a good alternative in the treatment of infectious diseases.
Keywords: Mentha pulegium L., Toxicity, Docking, Essential oil, GC-MS, Biological activities
Received: 15 Oct 2024; Accepted: 10 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Rached, Habsaoui, Mzioud, Er-rajy, Abujaber, Imtara, Oubihi, Haida, El-Guourrami, Noman, Ourras, Tarayrah and Ebn Touhami. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Hamada Imtara, Arab American University, Jenin, Palestine
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