Essential oils of Amazon Piper species and their cytotoxic, antifungal, antioxidant and anti-cholinesterase activities

• Published in: Industrial crops and products 2014-07, Vol.58, p.55-60
• Main Authors: da Silva, Joyce Kelly R., Pinto, L.C., Burbano, R.M.R., Montenegro, Raquel C., Guimarães, Elsie F., Andrade, Eloisa Helena A., Maia, José Guilherme S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cladosporium; Cladosporium cladosporioides; Cytotoxic, anti-cholinesterase, antifungal and antioxidant activities; Essential oil composition; Piper; Piper hispidum; Piper hispidum, Piper anonifolium and Piper aleyreanum
• ISSN: 0926-6690; 1872-633X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.indcrop.2014.04.006

•Our group is promoting the inventory of the aromatic plants of the Brazilian Amazon.•The essential oils of Piper species are highlighted with regard to their possible economic uses.•The biological active compounds from Piper oils could be used on new drugs of the pharmaceutical industry.•New agricultural prospects can help the Brazilian society in the mitigation of deforestation of the Amazon region. The hydrodistilled oils of Piper hispidum, Piper aleyreanum, and Piper anonifolium, collected in the Carajás National Forest, Pará state, Brazil, were analyzed by GC and GC–MS and then, evaluated their antioxidant, antifungal, anticholinesterase and cytotoxic activities. In total, 87 constituents were identified in the Piper oils. The sesquiterpenes were the most highly represented classes and the main compounds found in the Piper oils were selin-11-en-4-α-ol, β-elemene, β-selinene, α-selinene, bicyclogermacrene, β-caryophyllene, α-humulene, and δ-elemene. All analyzed oils showed powerful antifungal activity, with the detection limit (DL) from 0.1 to 1.0μg against the Cladosporium cladosporioides and Cladosporium sphareospermum fungi, as well they have no lytic effect against the mice erythrocytes. In the anticholinesterase evaluation, the oils of P. anonifolium (DL=0.01ng) and P. hispidum (DL=0.01ng) were hundred times more potent than the standard physostigmine (DL=1.0ng). Moreover, the oil of P. aleyreanum showed high in vitro cytotoxic activity against the human melanoma cell line SKMEL-19 (IC50=7.4μg/mL) and significant antioxidant activity (DPPH=412.2mg TE/mL). The higher cell growth inhibition induced by the oil of P. aleyreanum is probably due to elemene (β-, δ-, and γ-elemene), as well as other structurally related compounds, which were previously reported in the proliferation inhibition, stimulation of apoptosis and induction of cell cycle arrest in malignant cells.