Volatile Components, Antioxidant and Phytotoxic Activity of the Essential Oil of <i>Piper acutifolium</i> Ruiz & Pav. from Peru
Carmela Fiorella Cuadros-Siguas,
Oscar Herrera-Calderon,
Gaber El-Saber Batiha,
Najlaa Hamed Almohmadi,
Nada H. Aljarba,
José Alfonso Apesteguia-Infantes,
Eddie Loyola-Gonzales,
Freddy Emilio Tataje-Napuri,
José Francisco Kong-Chirinos,
José Santiago Almeida-Galindo,
Haydee Chávez,
Josefa Bertha Pari-Olarte
Affiliations
Carmela Fiorella Cuadros-Siguas
Department of Pharmacology, Bromatology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Jr Puno 1002, Lima 15001, Peru
Oscar Herrera-Calderon
Department of Pharmacology, Bromatology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Jr Puno 1002, Lima 15001, Peru
Gaber El-Saber Batiha
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Damanhour University, Damanhour 22511, Egypt
Najlaa Hamed Almohmadi
Clinical Nutrition Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 24381, Saudi Arabia
Nada H. Aljarba
Department of Biology, College of Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
José Alfonso Apesteguia-Infantes
Department of Pharmacology, Bromatology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Jr Puno 1002, Lima 15001, Peru
Eddie Loyola-Gonzales
Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Universidad Nacional San Luis Gonzaga, Ica 11001, Peru
Freddy Emilio Tataje-Napuri
Departamento de Ciencias Comunitarias, Facultad de Odontología, Universidad Nacional San Luis Gonzaga, Ica 11001, Peru
José Francisco Kong-Chirinos
Department of Surgical Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Human Medicine, Universidad Nacional San Luis Gonzaga, Ica 11001, Peru
José Santiago Almeida-Galindo
Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Human Medicine, Universidad Nacional San Luis Gonzaga, Ica 11001, Peru
Haydee Chávez
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Universidad Nacional San Luis Gonzaga, Ica 11001, Peru
Josefa Bertha Pari-Olarte
Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Universidad Nacional San Luis Gonzaga, Ica 11001, Peru
Piper acutifolium Ruiz & Pav is known as “matico” and belongs to the Piperaceae family, and in Peru it is traditionally used as an infusion or decoction to ameliorate wound healings or ulcers. In this study, the aim was to investigate the volatile components, the antioxidant profile, and the phytotoxic activity of the essential oil (EO) of P. acutifolium from Peru. To identify the phytoconstituents, the EO was injected into a Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) to obtain the chemical profile of the volatile components, followed by the antioxidant activity carried out by the reaction with three organic radicals (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH); 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline)-6- sulfonic acid (ABTS); ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP)). Finally, the phytotoxic capabilities of the EO were tested on two model plants, Lactuca sativa seeds and Allium cepa bulbs. As a result, the analysis identified α-phellandrene as its main volatile chemical at 38.18%, followed by β-myrcene (29.48%) and β-phellandrene (21.88%). Regarding the antioxidant profile, the half inhibitory concentration (IC50) in DPPH was 160.12 ± 0.30 µg/mL, for ABTS it was 138.10 ± 0.06 µg/mL and finally in FRAP it was 450.10 ± 0.05 µg/mL. The phytotoxic activity demonstrated that the EO had high activity at 5% and 10% against L. sativa seed germination, the inhibition of root length, and hypocotyl length. Additionally, in A. cepa bulbs, the inhibition root length was obtained at 10%, both comparable to glyphosate, which was used as a positive control. The molecular docking on 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) revealed that α-phellandrene had −5.8 kcal/mol, being near to glyphosate at −6.3 kcal/mol. The conclusion shows that the EO of P. acutifolium presented antioxidant and phytotoxic activity and might be useful as a bioherbicide in the future.