Binary and Tertiary Mixtures of Satureja hortensis and Origanum vulgare Essential Oils as Potent Antimicrobial Agents Against Helicobacter pylori

Essential oils possess strong antimicrobial activity, even against multiresistant Helicobacter pylori . Available therapies against H . pylori infection have multiple disadvantages, indicating a great need for a development of new therapeutics. The purpose of this study was to develop a potent natural product based anti‐ H . pylori formulation. First, anti‐ H . pylori activity of nine essential oils was determined, after which the most active oils were mixed in various ratios for further testing. Satureja hortensis , Origanum vulgare subsp. vulgare and O. vulgare subsp. hirtum essential oils expressed the highest activity (MIC = 2 μL mL −1 ). Their binary and ternary mixtures exhibited notably higher antimicrobial activity (MIC ≤ 2 μL mL −1 ). The most active was the mixture of S . hortensis and O . vulgare subsp. hirtum oils in volume ratio 2:1, which expressed 4 times higher activity than individual oils (MIC = 0.5 μL mL −1 ). According to GC‐MS, both oils in the mixture were characterized by high content of phenols (48–73%), with carvacrol as the main carrier of antimicrobial activity. Presented in vitro study pointed out binary mixture of S . hortensis and O . vulgare subsp. hirtum essential oils in volume ratio 2:1 as promising candidate for further in vivo studies targeting H . pylori infection. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.