Phenylpropanoid-rich Essential Oils of Piper Species from the Amazon and their Antifungal and Anti-cholinesterase Activities.

The essential oils (EOs) from aerial parts of Piper aduncum, P. callosuin 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. inarginatum. The analyzed oils showed low to moderate antifungal activity; with detection limits (DL) from 10 to 100 pg 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 acetyleholinesterase and may be responsible for the anti-AChE activities of the Piper EOs. This is the first presentation about acetylcholinesterase inhibition by methylenedioxyphenyl-propanoids.