In vitro study of anti-coccidial activity of essential oils from indigenous plants against Eimeria tenella

- Oils from Boesenbergia pandurata and Ocimum basilicum have anticoccidial activity.
- Both oocysticidal and coccidiocidal properties are demonstrated.
- Methyl cinnamate and camphor are the active components of B. pandurata oil.
- Methyl chavicol from O. basilicum oil is effective compound against coccidia.

This study was designed to evaluate the in vitro anticoccidial properties against Eimeria tenella of different essential oils and their major active components. Efficacy of ten essential oils from different Thai indigenous plants were preliminarily screened and only those with potential were further tested for effective concentrations and identifying their active compounds. Oocysticidal property was evaluated in term of sporulation inhibition of oocysts and the percentage of unsporulated, sporulated and degenerated oocysts, after treatment with 125 μg/ml of the selected essential oil, the sample was enumerated by haemocytometer, while coccidiocidal activity was assessed by the inhibition of sporozoite invasion in MDBK cell lines. Results showed that only Boesenbergia pandurata and Ocimum basilicum essential oils had strong sporulation inhibition activity by providing a higher ratio of degenerated oocysts and their IC50 were 0.134 and 0.101 mg/ml, respectively. GC-MS analysis of B. pandurata essential oil found trans-b-ocimene, camphor, 1,8-cineole, geraniol, camphene, methyl cinnamate, l-limonene and linalool as the major components, while methyl chavicol, α-bergamotene, 1,8-cineole and trans-β-ocimene were the main compounds of O. basilicum essential oil. Methyl cinnamate and camphor were the active components of B. pandurata oil, whereas methyl chavicol was the active component of O. basilicum oil by exhibiting the oocysticidal effect against E. tenella with IC50 values of 0.008, 0.023 and 0.054 mg/ml, respectively. Furthermore, B. pandurata and O. basilicum oils also showed a strong cytotoxic property against coccidia with more than 70% inhibition of sporozoite invasion in MDBK cell lines, and their IC50 were 0.004 and 0.004 mg/ml, respectively. Methyl cinnamate as well as camphor from B. pandurata and methyl chavicol from O. basilicum were also effective with IC50 values of 0.029, 0.023, and 0.022 mg/ml, respectively.