Screening of selected Mongolian medicinal plants for their acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity

Abstract

In recent years the incidence of Alzheimer's is increasing especially in Western countries caused by the fact that people get older than in former times. Therefore it is important to find new compounds which have a significant effect on this special form of dementia. Therefore in this study 50 plants used in Traditional Mongolian Medicine were tested for their acetylcholinesterase inhibitory effect. MeOH extracts of different plant parts (leaves, flowers, aerial parts, roots) were tested by the modified photometric method of Ellman [1]in vitro. The methanolic extracts of six different plants showed an activity over 25% at a concentration of 1,000µg/ml: Bergenia crassifolia Fritsch. (Saxifragaceae) 44.4%, Carduus crispus L. (Asteraceae) 60.5%, Juniperus sibirica Burgsd. (Juniperaceae) 28.4%, the two Lespedeza species L. dahurica (Laxm.) Schindl. 37.1% and L. hedysaroides (Pall.) Kitag. (Fabaceae) 36.0% and Potentilla viscosa G. Don. (Rosaceae) 26.0%. Further fractionation resulted in higher activities. Purification of the Carduus crispus extract led to an activity up to 90.9% at 1.000µg/ml. The natural resources, especially plants combined with the knowledge of traditional medicine give a pool of potential new drugs.