Chemical composition, Biological Activities and In Silico Evaluation of Essential Oils from the aerial, and root parts of Nepeta hindostana (B. Heyne ex Roth)-Haines Grown in North India

Nepeta hindostana, commonly known as the North Indian Catmint, is an important Indian aromatic and medicinal plant of family Lamiaceae. Its leaves are extensively used as cardiac tonic and gargle to cure sore throat in the form of extract or decoction. However, there are few reports on the chemical composition and biological activities of leaf essential oil, while the root essential oil has not yet been explored. In this context, the present study is aimed to characterize the chemical composition and to evaluate different biological activities of the essential oil (EO) from aerial and root part of the plant. Thus, the EOs were hydro-distilled from aerial parts (stem, leaf, flower) and roots of the plant and analyzed by GC-MS. Twenty-four and thirty-four compounds, contributing 95.5% and 90.7% of the total oil composition, were identified in aerial and root EOs, respectively. Both the oils appeared to be antioxidant via in-vitro methods. Aerial and root EOs showed albumin denaturation activity with relative IC50 values of 20.46 +/- 0.21 mu g/mL and 31.79 +/- 0.28 mu g/mL. Root EO exhibited higher a-amylase inhibition activity (IC50 = 10.86 +/- 0.45 mu g/mL) than aerial part EO (IC50 = 25.33 +/- 0.24 mu g/mL). Both the EOs exerted a prominent antifeedant activity against Spilosoma obliqua. The bioactivity of the main identified compounds in the EOs were predicted using PASS (prediction of activity spectra for substances) tools. Furthermore, molecular docking studies highlighted that beta-sitosterol had the most efficient binding affinity with NADPH oxidase and alpha-amylase receptors.