Bioactive volatiles of Anisothecium spirale (Mitt.) Broth. analyzed by headspace solid-phase micro-extraction coupled to GC–MS
摘要
Anisothecium spirale (Mitt.) Broth., an epiphytic moss of Family- Dicranaceae, is profoundly distributed in the Darjeeling hill region. The volatile metabolites from the headspace of the gametophytic plant parts were extracted by solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) followed by their analysis using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The volatile profile constituted twenty-six compounds, belonging to monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and fatty acid-derived oxylipins. The predominant metabolite was a monoterpene, α-pinene, which contributed 43.3% of the total identified volatiles. Most of the other detected compounds were sesquiterpenes, belonging to different chemical groups such as bourbonanes, elemanes, eudesmanes, and cadinanes. Among the oxylipins, C6 and C8 alcohols, and a C8 keto compound were isolated. The total terpene extract from the moss gametophyte exhibited in-vitro antioxidant activity. The compounds were analyzed for pharmacokinetic properties using the SwissADME tool followed by a virtual screening via docking approach to predict the binding affinity of the metabolites towards Cannabinoid Receptor 1 (CB1) and the cellular transcription factors involved in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant responses, namely KEAP1, NF-kB, FOXO3a. Some of the detected terpenes, namely α-gurjunene, β-bourbonene, γ-muurolene displayed substantial binding affinity towards the transcription factors, reflecting their possible involvement in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory response mechanism. Moreover, α-pinene, α-gurjunene, β-pinene and β-vatirenene were found to target CB1 depicting their potent neuro-modulatory effect. Therefore, the in-vitro and in-silico analyses suggested the occurrence of several bio-active phytochemicals in Anisothecium spirale predicting it’s potential therapeutic prospects, which needs to be validated by further pharmacological evaluations.