Chemical Composition, and Antioxidant and Cholinesterase Inhibitory Activities of Lindera glauca Fruit Essential Oil and Molecular Docking Studies of Six Selected Compounds

Lindera glauca is a shrub or small tree mostly distributed in China, Japan and Korea. However, reports on the biological activities of Lindera glauca fruit essential oil (LGFEO) are limited. The study on its chemical composition, and antioxidant and cholinesterase inhibitory activities were performed, along with molecular docking of six selected compounds. The LGFEO was extracted by hydro distillation and analyzed by GC-MS and GC-FID. Antioxidant activities of LGFEO were evaluated by three methods with different mechanisms. Acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory activities of LGFEO were tested. A total of 48 components were identified representing 95.74% of the total composition of LGFEO in which the major compounds were (E)-β-ocimene (41.53%), α-copaene (13.17%), δ-cadinene (6.20%), 3-carene (5.89%) and eucalyptol (3.57%). Weak antioxidant activities of LGFEO in three assays (9.52, 11.36 and 38.98 μmol TE/g, respectively) were observed. LGFEO showed obvious cholinesterase inhibitory activities at the final concentrations of 50 and 20 μg/mL. IC50 values for acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase were 46.48 and 34.85 μg/mL, respectively. Molecular docking revealed that geranyl acetate, β-caryophyllene and limonene had lower binding affinities in the range of −7.1 to −6.1 kcal/mol through hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bond. Six compounds including 3-carene, limonene, eucalyptol, (E)-β-ocimene, geranyl acetate and β-caryophyllene could contribute together to cholinesterase inhibitory activities of LGFEO. This essential oil indicated low potential as natural antioxidant, but it could be potentially used as cholinesterase inhibitor with possible application in food, aromatherapy and pharmaceutical industries.