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Plant Science Today (PST)

Research Articles

Vol. 13 No. 3 (2026)

Bioactive compounds and antifungal activity of rosemary extract and essential oil against Candida spp.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.14719/pst.14566
Submitted
16 March 2026
Published
28-07-2026 — Updated on 04-08-2026
Versions

Abstract

Rosemary (Salvia Rosmarinus Spenn.) is commonly used in folk medicine as rosemary and is known to possess antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, the hot water extract of leaves was investigated, as well as the essential oil, were subjected to a series of laboratory tests. The main compounds (identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS)) include polyphenols, terpenoids and carnosic acid derivatives (29.85 %), palmitic acid (12.31 %) and phytol (6.62 %). To determine antifungal activity, the hot extract and essential oil were tested against different Candida species using well diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) tests. In addition, the anti-inflammatory analysis was carried out. The essential oil was the most effective against Candida tropicalis, with the MIC of 64 µg/mL. Both the extract and the essential oil also exhibited significant anti-inflammatory effects with a dose-dependent effect. The 400 µg/mL of oil inhibited denaturation by 61.67 %. All treatments with an MFC/MIC ratio ≤ 2 demonstrated fungicidal activity. Therefore, it is possible to state that rosemary, in fact, is a natural remedy for Candida-related inflammatory problems.

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