Variation in the essential oil composition and in silico analysis of anti-inflammatory potential of Balkan endemic species Achillea clypeolata Sm

Abstract

This research investigated a Balkan endemic species, Achillea clypeolata, collected from two locations (Dobrostan and Ivaylovgrad) in Bulgaria and two locations (Ozren and Rtanj) in Serbia. The goal was to compare the essential oil (EO) of A. clypeolata from these four localities. The EO was isolated from dry aboveground plant parts by hydrodistillation, and the identification of the EO constituents was carried out by GC-MS analyses. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), correlation analysis, and an unrooted cluster tree were used to define distinctions in the presence of volatile compounds in A. clypeolata EO. Results showed that A. clypeolata of Serbian origin (Ozren and Rtanj) contained 1,8-cineole as the main constituent, and belonged to the previously described 1,8-cineole as a dominant compound in the EO profile. On the other hand, the results from Bulgaria show an evident chemical diversification within the A. clypeolata species, as 1,8-cineole (23.2%), camphor (5.0%) and borneol (8.9%) prevailed in the EO of the studied samples collected from Ivaylovgrad, while borneol (22.6%), β-eudesmol (12.7%) and elemol (7.8%) were the main ones in the EO from Dobrostan. In sillico analysis revealed the high anti-inflammatory potential of A. clypeolata, which may be highly diverse depending on the population and active compounds it contains.