Discrimination of the Essential Oils Obtained from Four Apiaceae Species Using Multivariate Analysis Based on the Chemical Compositions and Their Biological Activity

The chemical composition of the essential oils obtained from the aerial parts of four Apiaceae species, namely Elaeosticta allioides (EA), E. polycarpa (EP), Ferula clematidifolia (FC), and Hyalolaena intermedia (HI), were determined using gas chromatography. Altogether, 100 volatile metabolites representing 78.97, 81.03, 85.78, and 84.49% of the total components present in EA, EP, FC, and HI oils, respectively, were reported. allo-Ocimene (14.55%) was the major component in FC, followed by D-limonene (9.42%). However, in EA, germacrene D (16.09%) was present in a high amount, while heptanal (36.89%) was the predominant compound in HI. The gas chromatographic data were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) to explore the correlations between these species. Fortunately, the PCA score plot could differentiate between the species and correlate Ferula to Elaeosticta species. Additionally, the antioxidant activity was evaluated in vitro using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH), 2,2-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS), and the ferric reducing power (FRAP) assays. In addition, the antimicrobial activity using the agar diffusion method was assessed, and the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined. Furthermore, the cell viability MTT assay was performed to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the essential oils against hepatic (HepG-2) and cervical (HeLa) cancer cell lines. In the DPPH assay, FC exhibited the maximum activity against all the antioxidant assays with IC50 values of 19.8 and 23.0 μg/mL for the DPPH and ABTS assays, respectively. Ferula showed superior antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities as well. Finally, a partial least square regression model was constructed to predict the antioxidant capacity by utilizing the metabolite profiling data. The model showed excellent predictive ability by applying the ABTS assay.