`Microencapsulation of Pancratium maritimum Essential Oil: GC–MS Analysis, Antimicrobial, Antibiofilm and Anticoagulant Effects and Molecular Docking Evaluation

Pancratium maritimum, a bulbous geophyte from the Amaryllidaceae family, thrives primarily in the subtropical biome on both sides of the Mediterranean. Thus, our purpose was to explore the chemical composition of P. maritimum L. essential oil grown in Tunisia and its microemulsion and evaluate their antibacterial, antibiofilm, and anticoagulant effects.

The volatile oil was extracted using the hydro-distillation method, and then its phytochemicals were identified by the GC–MS process. The microemulsion was prepared with Arabic gum biopolymer dissolution, Tween 20 was used as a surfactant. Antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities were evaluated using the microdilution method against a wide range of strains. The anticoagulant activity was estimated in vitro by measuring prothrombin time (PT) and PTT-activated partial thromboplastin time. The molecular docking approach was performed via the Auto Dock 4.2 program package.

The analysis by GC/MS revealed the presence of the following major components: 3,5,5-trimethylcyclohex-3-ene-1-ol (37.67%), trans-isoelemicine (9.80%), phytol (4.39%), limonene (3.26%), fenchone (2.31%), and T-muurolol (2.06%). A microemulsion was obtained with a polydispersity index of 0.186, a Zeta potential of 24.1 Mv, pH value of 6, and an encapsulation efficiency of 79.7 ± 0.3. The P. maritimum emulsion showed strong antibacterial (MICs between 1.625 and 26 mg/mL), antibiofilm (> 80% at 4xMIC), antifungal (0.4 mg/mL against Candida albicans), anticoagulant (18.6 s for PT and 48 s for aPTT) activities, and molecular docking results showed that T-muurolol’ had the best binding score of − 6.4 kcal mol⁻¹ with 1kzn enzyme and − 5.7 kcal mol⁻¹ with 6mki receptor compared to its analogues.

Pancratium maritimum could be a source of new antibacterial and anticoagulant compounds, as well as a tool for controlling bacterial biofilms in food and food-related environments.