Effects of 7-hydroxycalamenene isolated from Croton cajucara essential oil on growth, lipid content and ultrastructural aspects of Rhizopus oryzae.

The leaves and bark of Croton cajucara, a shrub from the Amazon region, have been used in folk medicine to treat diabetes, malaria, and gastrointestinal and liver disorders. The essential oil from the leaves, rich in linalool, presented antileishmanial and antimicrobial activities. A chemotype of this species was found with an essential oil rich in 7-hydroxycalamenene. During our studies of the C. cajucara essential oil, we isolated 7-hydroxycalamenene at > 98 % purity. The minimum inhibitory concentration of 7-hydroxycalamenene against Absidia cylindrospora, Cunninghamella elegans, Mucor circinelloides, Mucor circinelloides f. circinelloides, Mucor mucedo, Mucor plumbeus, Mucor ramosissimus, Rhizopus microsporus, Rhizopus oryzae, and Syncephalastrum racemosum ranged from 19.53 to 2500 µg/mL. The reference drug used, amphotericin B, presented a minimum inhibitory concentration ranging from 0.085 µg/mL to 43.87 µg/mL. 7-Hydroxycalamenene also altered spore differentiation and total lipid content. Ultrastructural analysis by transmission electron microscopy showed significant alterations in the cellular structure of R. oryzae.