Evaluation of Antifungal and Antibacterial Activities of Tunisian Lentisc (Pistacia Lentiscus L.) Fruit Oil

Background: Intensive studies and experiments have proven that the drug resistance of microorganisms is evolving very disturbingly. As a consequence, new avenues of research become strongly essential to expand knowledge on this phenomenon and develop highly effective alternatives targeting it. Therefore, there is increasing interest in the use of medicinal plants for treatment of many infections. Objective: In accordance with these findings, this study aims to evaluate the in vitro activities of fruit oil extracted from Tunisian varieties of Pistacia lentiscus, growing in Rimel forest (Bizerte) in north of Tunisia, against some medically important and emerging species of bacteria and yeasts. Methods: The antimicrobial activities were performed using the disc diffusion method. We evaluate antimicrobial activities of this oil against many species like Staphylococcus aureus; Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Escherichia coli and C. albicans and to our knowledge, in our current study, we demonstrated for the first time his activities against the following species: Listeria innocua; Salmonella enterica; Enterococcus faecalis; Shigella flexneri; Candida parapsilosis; Candida tropicalis and Candida glabrata. Results: The results showed positive activities of fruit oil against all tested bacteria and yeasts with some differences depending on the microorganism tested. The maximum antibacterial activities were obtained against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. For yeasts, the oil exhibited high activity against C. parapsilosis. Conclusion: This study elaborately confirmed that Tunisian P. lentiscus fruit oil contains compounds that can be used to treat many infections.