Chemical Diversity and Biological Potential of Tanacetum praeteritum subsp. praeteritum Essential Oils

Abstract

Two samples of Tanacetum praeteritum (Horwood) Heywood subsp. praeteritum(Horwood) were collected in flowering period and subjected separately to hydrodistillation toyield the essential oils (A and B). The oils were investigated for chemical composition with GCFIDand GC/MS techniques and evaluated against acetylcholinesterase and -amylase enzymesand free radicals (DPPH• and ABTS•+) using microtiter plate assays. Both oils were characterizedwith high abundance of oxygenated monoterpenes. The oils were distinguished by the mainconstituents, namely, camphor (37.6%), 1,8-cineole (19.5%) and terpinen-4-ol (9.3%) werefound as the major constituents in the oil A, while -thujone (79.4%) and -thujone (8.5%)were detected in the oil B. The oils demonstrated significant inhibitory (80% and 60.0%)potentials on acetylcholinesterase (an IC50 of 0.74 mg/mL and an IC50 of 1.78 mg/mL,respectively) which is involved in Alzheimer’s disease. With respect to antidiabetic activity, theoils demonstrated significant inhibiting potential on porcine pancreatic -amylase (an IC50 of1.02 mg/mL and an IC50 of 0.89 mg/mL) in I2/KI assay. The oils demonstrated weak free radicalscavenging activity against DPPH radicals and moderate activity (0.23 mM and 0.15 mM) againstABTS+• in TEAC assay.