Chemical Composition and Cholinesterase Inhibitory Activity of Different Parts of Daucus aristidis Coss. Essential Oils from Two Locations in Algeria

The chemical composition of the essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from the different parts of Daucus aristidis Coss. (syn. Ammiopsis aristidis Batt.) (Apiaceae) from two locations (Ghoufi and Bousaada) in East of Algeria, was investigated for the first time by GC and GC-MS and evaluated for their in vitro acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitory activity, the enzymes linked to Alzheimer’s disease, by a spectrophotometric method of Ellman using ELISA microplate reader at 100 µg/mL. The main components of D. aristidis oils from Ghoufi and Bousaada were α-pinene (74.1%- 49%) and β-pinene (11.9% - 19.2%). This suggests that β-pinene was the main component from Bousaada. The oils exhibited a moderate inhibitory activity (over 50%) against both of the enzymes.