Abstract

Dried leaves of the Thymbra sintenisii have long been used traditionally in the form of herbal tea and as an antiseptic against flu in Anatolia. In the present study, Thymbra sintenisii extract’s antimicrobial, antioxidant, cytotoxic and wound healing effects were investigated. Aerial parts of Thymbra sintenisii were extracted with ethanol and the chemical composition was analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Antimicrobial activity of the ethanol extract of Thymbra sintenisii was evaluated using micro-well dilution method and radical scavenging activity was measured using a spectrophotometric method. Cytotoxic activity of ethanol extract of Thymbra sintenisii in MCF-7 and MG63 cell lines were evaluated using the XTT assay. Results revealed that thymol was the major component by 64.97 %. Ethanol extract of Thymbra sintenisii displayed strong antimicrobial activity against Candida tropicalis (0.06 mg/ml) and moderate activity against Shigella boydii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (0.5 mg/ml) strains. IC50 values of the ethanol extract of Thymbra sintenisii were against MG63, 37.28 μg/ml, MCF-7, 44.40 μg/ml and L929 44.84 μg/ml at 24 h. Significantly faster healing was observed in wound area of the treatment group when compared to the control group. Wound area measurements showed that ethanol extract of Thymbra sintenisii reduced the total wound area by 30 % while that of the untreated reduced by 7 % on end of the seventh day. Antimicrobial, antioxidant, cytotoxic and wound healing activities of Thymbra sintenisii appeared to be quite remarkable. The results indicated that ethanol extract of Thymbra sintenisii could be of therapeutic potential.