Chemical composition, Antimicrobial and anti-acetylcholinesterase activities of essential oils from the Tunisian Asteriscus maritimus (L.) Less

Abstract

Abstract:The chemical composition, the acetylcholinesterase inhibitory effect and the antimicrobial activity of the Tunisian Asteriscus maritimus (L.) Less essential oils obtained from flowers, leaves and stems were investigated. According to the GC and GC-MS analysis results, 45 (99.32%), 34 (94%) and 29 compounds (94.95%) were identified, respectively. In the essential oils extracted from the flowers and leaves of A. maritimus, oxygenated sesquiterpenes were abundantly found (57.82 and 46.39%, respectively). Hexdecanoic acid was detected in an important amount in leaves and stems (30.35 and 49.18%, respectively), while β-eudesmol (24.25%), menthyl acetate (17.03%) and pentadecanal (15.38%) were the most abundant constituents in flowers. To evaluate the in vitro antimicrobial activity, all volatiles were tested against some bacterial and fungal agents. It was found that only the volatile oil from flowers exhibited interesting antibacterial and antifungal activities. When screened for their anti-acetylcholinesterase activity, essential oil from flowers exhibited the highest activity (IC 50 =95 µg/mL). To our knowledge, this is the first report of acetylcholinesterase inhibition and antimicrobial activity of the Tunisian A. maritimus essential oils.

Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitory Potential of Various Sesquiterpene Analogues for Alzheimer’s Disease Therapy

“…Hence, to be a potential candidate for Alzheimer's therapy, a compound must pass the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and should be sufficiently bioavailable in the affected area of the brain. The lipophilic nature and low polarity of sesquiterpenes render them bioavailable at specific sites [105,153]. Moreover, the various tools (such as Molinspiration, Swiss ADME) from the molecular modeling docking portal can be employed to predict the probability of a novel compound for crossing the BBB.…”