Medicinal Plants Anti-cholinesterase Activity and the Potential for Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a slow and progressive neurodegenerative disease, leading to a breakdown in memory preservation and absence of cognitive reasoning and language skills. It is the most popular neurodegenerative disease worldwide, with nearly 20 million new incidences recorded every year. The enzymes, acetyl cholinesterase (AChE) and butyryl-cholinesterase (BChE) play important roles in the cholinergic deficit through enhanced degradation of the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine (ACh). In most cases, to improve neurotransmission and to alleviate cholinergic deficit, the focus is mainly on acetyl cholinesterase (AChE) and butyl cholinesterase (BCh). Currently, drugs for the treatment of AD (Rivastigmine, galanthamine, donepezil and Memantine) targets the later stages and implicated in the progression of the disease. Acetyl cholinesterase enzyme (AChE) is especially an attractive target for the rational drug design and for the discovery of mechanism based inhibitors; this is because of its role in the hydrolysis of neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. Many plants serve as potential source of AChE and BChE inhibitors, and useful compounds that could provide templates for the development of drugs for the treatment of AD. This paper provides a review of several medicinal plants tested for anti-AChE and or BChE, many of which contains promising bioactive compounds as potential anti-cholinesterase that could serve as candidates for the development of drugs to treat AD.