Phenylpropanoid-rich essential oils of piper species from the amazon and their antifungal and anti-cholinesterase activities

Abstract

The essential oils (EOs) from aerial parts of Piper aduncum, P. callosum and P. marginatum, collected from the Amazon region of Brazil, were analyzed by GC-MS and then evaluated for their antifungal and anticholinesterase activities. The essential oils were dominated by phenylpropanoids, such as dillapiole (73.0%) in P. aduncum, safrole (66.0%) in P. callosum and 3,4-methylenedioxypropiophenone (21.8%) in P. marginatum. The analyzed oils showed low to moderate antifungal activity, with detection limits (DL) from 10 to 100 μg against Cladosporium cladosporioides and C. sphareospermum. In the anticholinesterase (AChE) evaluation, the oils of P. callosum (DL = 0.01 ng) and P. marginatum (DL = 0.01 ng) were one hundred times more potent than the standard physostigmine (DL = 1.0 ng). Molecular docking analysis showed that phenylpropanoids docked reasonably well with acetylcholinesterase and may be responsible for the anti-AChE activities of the Piper EOs. This is the first presentation about acetylcholinesterase inhibition by methylenedioxyphenylpropanoids.