Hexane extracts from fruit of two varieties of Capsicum chinense Jacq.: their volatile constituents and antiacetylcholinesterase, antileishmanial and antiproliferative activities.

This article aims to investigate volatile constituents and antiacetylcholinesterase, antileishmanial and antiproliferative activities of hexane extracts from Capsicum chinense fruit (unripe bode pepper 'HE-UB' and ripe little beak pepper 'HE-RB'). HE-UB and HE-RB were screened by the microplate assay method to determine their antiacetylcholinesterase activity. Both exhibited inhibitory potential, i. e., IC 50 = 41.5 and 20.3 µg/mL, respectively. HE-UB (IC 50 = 67.19 µg/mL) and HE-RB (IC 50 = 38.16 µg/mL) exhibited antileishmanial activity against promastigote forms of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis . In addition, HE-UB and HE-RB demonstrated cytotoxic activity against different human tumor cell lines with IC 50 ranging from 325.40 to 425.0 µg/mL. Both GC-FID and GC-MS analyses revealed that the major component in both extracts was E -caryophyllene. In short, HE-RB was more satisfactory than HE-UB in all in vitro activities under evaluation. These findings may be used as initial data for further studies of Capsicum species.