Antimicrobial and Wound Healing Potential of a New Chemotype from Piper cubeba L. Essential Oil and In Silico Study on S. aureus tyrosyl-tRNA Synthetase Protein

Abstract

Piper cubeba is an important plant commonly known as cubeb or Java pepper, and it is cultivated for its fruit and essential oils, largely used to treat various diseases. Up to today, there was no scientific report on wound healing activity. Thus, this study was initiated to evaluate for the first time the antimicrobial activity and wound healing potential of a new chemotype from Piper cubeba essential oil (PCEO) from fruits. Thirteen microbial strains have been selected to investigate the antimicrobial potential of PCEO. For the evaluation of the wound healing potential, sixteen rats were excised on the dorsal back and divided into four groups. The effect of PCEO on the malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities in the healed wound area of rats and the biochemical parameters and skin histological analysis were also assessed. Results: Data showed that PCEO exhibited a powerful antimicrobial potential especially against Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, the topical application of PCEO cream appears to increase the SOD level, wound healing and contraction but reduced the MDA amount suggesting an impressive and a rapid cutaneous healing power. Additionally, histopathological analysis of the granulation tissue revealed that the derma is properly restored and arranged after treatment with PCEO. The docking analysis of PCEO constituents against S. aureus tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase enzyme showed binding energies values in the range of −7.2 to −4.8 kcal/mol. In conclusion, the topic use of PCEO healing cream showed significant effect in accelerating the healing process, which may be attributed to the synergetic effect of antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of PCEO volatile constituents, making it a relevant therapeutic agent for the management of wounds and therefore confirming the popular traditional uses of this plant.