Background

Despite the fact that synthetic preservatives and antioxidants have strong antibacterial and antioxidant activity, they are frequently associated with negative health consequences. Currently, there is an increasing interest in pharmaceutical products that are excellent in quality and free of synthetic preservatives.

Methods

As a result, the purpose of this research is to assess the antibacterial and antioxidant activities of olive leaf extract, oleuropein, and thymol in various pharmaceutical products. Furthermore, the efficacy of these natural extracts to substitute synthetic preservatives (methyl-propylparaben and benzalkonium chloride) and antioxidants (butylhydroxytoluene) will be investigated.

Results

The results revealed that oleuropein, olive leaf extract, and a blend of oleuropein and thyme oil may be utilized as preservatives at concentrations of (0.6% w/v), (0.4% w/v), and (0.4%/0.1% v/v), respectively. The results demonstrated that thyme oil and oleuropein have synergistic efficacy against the studied microorganisms. By assessing antibacterial activity, and physical properties, the results demonstrated that pharmaceutical formulations containing natural preservatives were stable and effective for three months under accelerated settings (40 °C/ 75% RH).

Conclusion

Natural compounds such as oleuropein, olive leaf extract, and thyme oil have shown antibacterial effectiveness equivalent to synthetic preservatives in selected pharmaceutical products. Furthermore, there was synergy in antimicrobial activity between thyme oil and oleuropein and this facilitates the use of these compounds at different levels.

Keywords

Pharmaceutical products

thyme oil

oleuropein

olive leaves extract

Title

Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal

Publisher

Elsevier

Publisher Country

Germany

Indexing

Scopus

Impact Factor

4.1

Publication Type

Both (Printed and Online)

Volume

32

Year

2024

Pages

-