Lal_2022_Sci.Rep_12_9978

Anethole, a widely used industrial flavoring agent is majorly sourced from anise and star anise. The present study is aimed to the in-depth pharmacological analysis i.e. anti-diabetic, skin whitening, neurodegenerative disorder inhibitory activities of anethole-rich Clausena heptaphylla leaf essential oil (ARCHEO) (88.59%) as revealed by the Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis and further confirmed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1)H-NMR as well as to compare with standard compound anethole. ARCHEO (ABTS EC(50) 6.97 +/- 0.004 microg/mL; Protease assay 4.51 +/- 0.004 microg/mL) outperformed the standard compound anethole (ABTS EC(50) 9.48 +/- 0.048 microg/mL; Protease assay EC(50) 22.64 +/- 0.016 microg/mL) in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory experiments. ARCHEO was also shown to be more effective than the reference compound anethole in terms of anti-diabetic activity (EC(50) 22.35 +/- 0.121 microg/mL), tyrosinase inhibitory activity (EC(50) 16.45 +/- 0.012 microg/mL), and anti-cholinesterase activity (EC(50) 22.32 +/- 0.016 microg/mL). However, ARCHEO exhibited lower antimicrobial activity towards all the tested microbes compared to standard compound anethole and as for the MIC, ARCHEO was effective only towards Salmonella typhimurium (60 microg/mL), Streptococcus mutans (20 microg/mL), and Aspergillus fumigatus (75 microg/mL). ARCHEO (11.11%) and anethole (12.33%) showed no genotoxic effect based on Allium cepa assay mitotic index value. Thus, ARCHEO could be a commercially viable and widely available cheaper source of anethole, which has buoyant demand in the field of food flavoring, fragrance, and pharmaceutical industries.