Aim:

to carry out a bibliographic review on the antimicrobial potential of carveol. It is an integrative review between the years 2010-2020 in the BVS, PubMed, SciELO, Science-Direct and Web of Science databases.

Methodology:

of the 2753 articles retrieved from the databases, only 5 were selected to compose the results, the most studied genera being Candida, Staphylococcus and Escherichia. The broth microdilution technique was the most widely used methodology to determine its action. In terms of MIC, for most species, they were excellent. Regarding the Time-kill test, carveol had an excellent performance at a concentration of 4 x MIC, which showed a reduction of CFU by 6 log in 2 hours. No studies have been found in the literature on the use of the Checkboard method. Further-more, this compound had good antibiofilm activity against Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.

Results:

the possible mechanism of action of the antimicrobial activity of carveol occurs through the severe damage caused to the cytoplasmic membranes, which will favor cell lysis. Thus, there are few studies in the available scientific collection that address the subject, so it is necessary to carry out more in vitro and in vivo studies to better elucidate its action.