{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,27]],"date-time":"2026-09-27T06:14:16Z","timestamp":1790489656506,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,15]],"date-time":"2023-01-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1673740800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the University of Ferrara","award":["FAR 2021-2192449"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FAR 2021-2192449"]}]},{"name":"the University of Ferrara","award":["FAR 2022-719270"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FAR 2022-719270"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Antibiotics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Essential oils (EOs) and their vapour phase of Curcuma longa (Zingiberaceae), Cymbopogon citratus (Poaceae), Ocimum campechianum (Lamiaceae), and Zingiber officinale (Zingiberaceae) of cultivated plants grown in an Amazonian Ecuador area were chemically characterised by Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID), Gas Chromatography\u2013Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), and Head Space\u2013Gas Chromatograph-Flame Ionization Detector\u2013Mass Spectrometry (HS-GC-FID-MS).figure The EOs analyses led to the identification of 25 compounds for C. longa (99.46% of the total; ar-turmerone: 23.35%), 18 compounds for C. citratus (99.59% of the total; geraniol: 39.43%), 19 compounds for O. campechianum (96.24% of the total; eugenol: 50.97%), and 28 for Z. officinale (98.04% of the total; \u03b1-Zingiberene: 15.45%). The Head Space fractions (HS) revealed C. longa mainly characterised by limonene and 1,8-cineole (37.35%) and \u03b1-phellandrene (32.33%); Z. officinale and C. citratus showed camphene (50.39%) and cis-Isocitral (15.27%) as the most abundant compounds, respectively. O. campechianum EO revealed a higher amount of sesquiterpenes (10.08%), mainly characterised by E-caryophyllene (4.95%), but monoterpene fraction remained the most abundant (89.94%). The EOs were tested for antioxidant, antimicrobial, and mutagen-protective properties and compared to the Thymus vulgaris EO as a positive reference. O. campechianum EO was the most effective in all the bioactivities checked. Similar results emerged from assaying the bioactivity of the vapour phase of O. campechianum EO. The antioxidant and antimicrobial activity evaluation of O. campechianum EO were repeated through HP-TLC bioautography assay, pointing out eugenol as the lead compound for bioactivity. The mutagen-protective evaluation checked through Ames\u2019s test properly modified evidenced a better capacity of O. campechianum EO compared with the other EOs, reducing the induced mutagenicity at 0.1 mg\/plate. However, even with differences in efficacy, the overall results suggest important perspectives for the functional use of the four studied EOs.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/antibiotics12010177","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,16]],"date-time":"2023-01-16T02:29:55Z","timestamp":1673836195000},"page":"177","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["A Comparative Study on Chemical Compositions and Biological Activities of Four Amazonian Ecuador Essential Oils: Curcuma longa L. (Zingiberaceae), Cymbopogon citratus (DC.) Stapf, (Poaceae), Ocimum campechianum Mill. (Lamiaceae), and Zingiber officinale Roscoe (Zingiberaceae)"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6553-3938","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandra","family":"Guerrini","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmaceutical Biology Lab., Research Unit 7, Terra&Acqua Tech. Technopole Lab., Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, P.le Luciano Chiappini 2, 44123 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7958-355X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Massimo","family":"Tacchini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmaceutical Biology Lab., Research Unit 7, Terra&Acqua Tech. Technopole Lab., Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, P.le Luciano Chiappini 2, 44123 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6171-278X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ilaria","family":"Chiocchio","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, Via Irnerio, 42, 40126 Bologna, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alessandro","family":"Grandini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmaceutical Biology Lab., Research Unit 7, Terra&Acqua Tech. Technopole Lab., Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, P.le Luciano Chiappini 2, 44123 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4771-8912","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Matteo","family":"Radice","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Earth Sciences, Dep. Ciencia de la Tierra, Universidad Estatal Amaz\u00f3nica, Km 2 \u00bd Via Puyo-Tena, Puyo 160150, Ecuador"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Immacolata","family":"Maresca","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmaceutical Biology Lab., Research Unit 7, Terra&Acqua Tech. Technopole Lab., Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, P.le Luciano Chiappini 2, 44123 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6631-3582","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guglielmo","family":"Paganetto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmaceutical Biology Lab., Research Unit 7, Terra&Acqua Tech. Technopole Lab., Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, P.le Luciano Chiappini 2, 44123 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6833-1477","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gianni","family":"Sacchetti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pharmaceutical Biology Lab., Research Unit 7, Terra&Acqua Tech. Technopole Lab., Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, P.le Luciano Chiappini 2, 44123 Ferrara, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Khan, F.A., Khan, N.M., Ahmad, S., Aziz, R., Ullah, I., Almehmadi, M., Allahyani, M., Alsaiari, A.A., and Aljuaid, A. (2022). Phytochemical profiling, antioxidant, antimicrobial and cholinesterase inhibitory effects of essential oils isolated from the leaves of Artemisia scoparia and Artemisia absinthium. 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