Chemical profile of Lippia thymoides, evaluation of the acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity of its essential oil, and molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations

PLoS One. 2019 Mar 8;14(3):e0213393. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0213393. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

The essential oils of the fresh and dry flowers, leaves, branches, and roots of Lippia thymoides were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed using gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectrometry (MS). The acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity of the essential oil of fresh leaves was investigated on silica gel plates. The interactions of the key compounds with acetylcholinesterase were simulated by molecular docking and molecular dynamics studies. In total, 75 compounds were identified, and oxygenated monoterpenes were the dominant components of all the plant parts, ranging from 19.48% to 84.99%. In the roots, the main compounds were saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, having contents varying from 39.5% to 32.17%, respectively. In the evaluation of the anticholinesterase activity, the essential oils (detection limit (DL) = 0.1 ng/spot) were found to be about ten times less active than that of physostigmine (DL = 0.01ng/spot), whereas thymol and thymol acetate presented DL values each of 0.01 ng/spot, equivalent to that of the positive control. Based on the docking and molecular dynamics studies, thymol and thymol acetate interact with the catalytic residues Ser203 and His447 of the active site of acetylcholinesterase. The binding free energies (ΔGbind) for these ligands were -18.49 and -26.88 kcal/mol, demonstrating that the ligands are able to interact with the protein and inhibit their catalytic activity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetylcholinesterase / chemistry
  • Animals
  • Catalytic Domain
  • Cholinesterase Inhibitors / chemistry*
  • Cholinesterase Inhibitors / pharmacology*
  • Electrophorus / metabolism
  • Lippia / cytology*
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Monoterpenes / chemistry
  • Monoterpenes / pharmacology
  • Oils, Volatile / chemistry*
  • Oils, Volatile / pharmacology*
  • Plant Extracts / chemistry
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology
  • Plant Oils / chemistry*
  • Plant Oils / pharmacology*
  • Thymol / analogs & derivatives
  • Thymol / chemistry
  • Thymol / pharmacology

Substances

  • Cholinesterase Inhibitors
  • Monoterpenes
  • Oils, Volatile
  • Plant Extracts
  • Plant Oils
  • Thymol
  • Acetylcholinesterase

Grants and funding

This work was supported by scholarships awarded to SGS. SGS thanks Secretaria Estadual de Educação do Pará.; Oliveira M. S (Process Number: 1662230) and Costa W. A. (Process Number: 1427204), thanks CAPES for the doctorate scholarship. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.