Berberidaceae Species As A Source Of Inhibitors Of Acetycholinesterase And Antioxidants

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disease associated with a cholinergic neuronal death and disability. The treatment is based on anticholinesterase agents mainly obtained from natural products [1]. Within the family Berberidaceae, Diphylleia cymosa and Podophyllum hexandrum are perennial herbs known for their medicinal use in American and Asian cultures. Their aerial and underground parts are also sources of antitumour lignans and other phenolic compounds, which may have a diverse spectrum of biological activity [2]. In this study, we evaluated the ethanolic extracts of both species for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition and antioxidant activity and the results are shown in Table 1. According to the results, promising AChE inhibition and antioxidant activity were detected for the ethanolic extracts from the leaves of D. cymosa and are therefore worth exploring further.

Tab. 1: In vitro evaluation of acetylcholinesterase and antioxidant activity of extracts from D. cymosa and P. hexandrum

Samples	Inhibition of AChE		β-carotene/linoleic acid IC50(µg/mL) [5]
	TLC [3]	Microplate (%I) [4]
D. cymosa (leaves)	+	64.22 ± 4.87	19.48 ± 5.90
D. cymosa (roots)	-	40.86 ± 3.70	20.76 ± 1.76
P. hexandrum (rhizomes and roots)	++++	47.04 ± 3.17	30.70 ± 2.12
Physostigmine	++++	89.81 ± 1.16	NA
Rutin	NA	NA	21.56
Legend: (+) less active; (++++) very active; (-) not active; TLC: thin layer chromatography; %I: percentage of inhibition; NA: not applicable.

Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to Dr PM Dewick (Nottingham, UK) for providing plant material and to FAPEMIG for funding MP Rocha.

References: [1] Taizong, W. et al. (2015)J Nat Prod, 78: 1593 – 1599. [2] Silva, CG. (2000) Tissue culture and phytochemical studies of Podophyllum, Diphylleia and Passiflora species. PhD Thesis, University of Nottingham. [3] Marston, A. et al. (2002) Phytochem Anal 13: 51 – 54. [4] Ellmam, GL. et al. (1961) Biochemic Pharmacol, 7: 88 – 95. [5] Almeida-Duarte, JM. et al. (2006) Ciên Tecnol Aliment, 26: 446 – 452.