Anti-dermatophytes Activity of Origanum compactum Essential Oil at Three Developmental Stages

The main aim of this study is to determine the chemical compounds of Origanum compactum essential oils (OCEO) at three phenological stages (vegetative, flowering, and post-flowering) and to evaluate their antifungal activity against three dermatophytes fungal strains: Trichophyton violaceum, Trichophyton tonsurans, and Trichophyton mentagrophytes using direct contact method. The main compounds of OCEO are carvacrol, thymol, p-cymene, and γ-terpinene. Oregano EOs showed important antifungal activities with some variability between EOs and fungal testing. At a concentration of 0.75% (v/v), the best inhibition values showed with OCEO at vegetative stage against Trichophyton mentagrophytes (95.17%), Trichophyton tonsurans (92.47%), and Trichophyton violaceum (91.41%). The OCEO at vegetative stage also showed the best IC50 (concentration of an inhibitor where the response is reduced by half) values of 52.86, 0.56, and 0.57% (v/v) against Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton tonsurans, and Trichophyton violaceum, respectively. The findings reveal that OCEO is a good source of anti-dermatophytes agents.