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The essential oils obtained by the hydrodistillation from the fresh flowers, leaves, stems, and roots of Ferula communis L., growing in Tunisia were analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Thirty-two components were identified in the oil of flowers with camphor (18.3 %), α-pinene (15.3 %), and β-eudesmol (9.3 %) as the main constituents. Twenty-nine compounds were identified in the oil of stems with β-eudesmol (28.1 %), δ-eudesmol (11.1 %), and α-eudesmol (9.6 %) as the main compounds. Twenty compounds were characterized in the oil of roots with dillapiole (7.9 %), guaiol (7.3 %), and spathulenol (6.8 %). In the oil of leaves, α-eudesmol (25.2 %), β-eudesmol (20.7 %), δ-eudesmol (10.1 %), and caryophyllene oxide (7.2 %) were found as the main constituents. This study was undertaken to evaluate the antioxidant activity using DPPH (2,2′-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), ABTS (2,2′-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), reducing power, and catalase activity. We tested also the antibacterial, cytotoxic, and cholinesterase inhibition properties of the essential oil of different organs of F. communis. The essential oil of the stems showed the highest antioxidant activity (IC50 = 0.03 ± 0.001 mg mL-1), in DPPH assay and the important result of catalase (303.03 μmol H2O2 degraded/min/protein) of F. communis. The antibacterial activity of the oil was determined by micro-well dilution assay. The best results (MIC = 0.156 ± 0.02 mg mL-1) were exhibited by the essential oil of the leaves of F. Communis against Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Besides, the strongest cytotoxic activity against Hela cells was shown with essential oils' leaves with an inhibition percentage of 79.05 % at the concentration of 500 μg mL-1. However, the best inhibition percentage of A 549 cells was detected for essential oils' leaves with an inhibition percentage of 54.56 % at 250 μg mL-1. Our finding showed that the essential oil of the flowers was the most active, with 64.623 % of inhibition against butyrylcholinesterase at 10 mg mL-1 from the incubation time of 30 min

In the results of the present work, we have proposed the biogenesis pathway of unsaturated fatty acid and described the structure-activity relationship.

 acetylcholinesterase properties of the aerial parts and roots essential oils from Crithmum maritimum L., Apiaceae, gathered in the area of Monastir (Tunisia). The essential oils have been analysed by GC and GC-MS. Remarkable differences were found between the constituent percentages of the different studied organs. The most important compounds from the aerial parts were: γ-terpinene (39.3%), methylcarvacrol (21.6%) and p-cymene (11.8%). In the roots oil, the main components were terpinolene (36.9%), dillapiole (26.8%) and γ-terpinene (21.9%). The antioxidant activity of the two oils was evaluated by employing 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging tests. The results showed that the antioxidant capacity assessed by different in vitro tests were moderate, the ABTS assay after 20 min (IC50 = 0.051 mg/mL) of aerial parts and (IC50 = 0.643 mg/mL) of the roots, appeared to be more potent than that for the DPPH assay (IC50 = 0.92 mg/mL) of aerial parts and (IC50 = 0.048 mg/mL) of roots. In addition, the examined oils showed the highest AchE inhibitory 1 mg/mL activity (31.16% and 26.35%, for the aerial parts and roots, respectively).