Chemical Composition, Antibacterial and in vitro Anti-Inflammatory Potentials of Essential Oils from Different Plant Parts of Moringa oleifera Lam

The chemical constituents, antibacterial, protection against protein denaturation and membrane stabilization activities of essential oils from flowers, leaves, seeds, bark and roots of M. oleifera were investigated. Of the eight bacterial strains tested, only the growths of four strains were inhibited by the essential oils. The oils from the flowers and seeds were the most active with MIC: 1.25 mg/mL each against P. vulgaris and K. pneumoniae respectively. All tested concentrations of M. oleifera essential oils showed high inhibition of protein denaturation (IC₅₀ 0.2 mg/mL) and high membrane stability (IC₅₀: < 0.1 mg/mL) compared to Diclofenac. The essential oils were dominated by eicosane (20.93%, 17.12% and 21.59%) in flowers, leaves and seeds respectively; naphthalene (18.40%) in bark and benzene isothiocyanato methyl (35.83%) in the roots. The results revealed that essential oils from different plant parts of M. oleifera could be explored as potential candidates with alternative or complementary potentials for combating drug resistant bacteria and inflammation.