Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

In-vitro studies on acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory potentials of aerial parts of Vernonia oligocephala (Asteraceae)

Waqas Mahmood¹, Hammad Saleem^2,3 , Irshad Ahmad¹, M Ashraf⁴, M Shoaib Ali Gill², Fafiz Muhammad Ahsan^5,6, Kashif-ur-Rehman Khan², Sadia Chaman², Seema Abbas², Anam Mubashar², Shafi Ullah Khan³, Nafees Ahemad³

¹Department of Pharmacy, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan; ²Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (IPS), University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), Lahore, 54000, Pakistan; ³School of Pharmacy, Monash University, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500 Bandar Sunway, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia; ⁴Department of Chemistry, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan; ⁵School of Pharmacy, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, P.R. China 212013; ⁶Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Central Punjab, 54000, Lahore, Pakistan.

For correspondence:- Hammad Saleem Email: hammad.saleem@monash.edu

Accepted: 8 October 2018 Published: 27 December 2018

Citation: Mahmood W, Saleem H, Ahmad I, Ashraf M, Gill MS, Ahsan FM, et al. In-vitro studies on acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory potentials of aerial parts of Vernonia oligocephala (Asteraceae). Trop J Pharm Res 2018; 17(12):2445-2448 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v17i12.20

© 2018 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the cholinesterases (acetylcholinestrase and butyrylcholinestrase) enzyme inhibitory potential of aerial parts Vernonia oligocephala (V. oligocephala) as a potential remedy for the management of neurodegenerative disorders.

Methods: Crude methanol extract of V. oligocephala leaves and its fractions including n-hexane, dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate and n-butanol were investigated for their inhibitory potentials against cholinesterases enzymes employing standard ELISA microtiter plate reader assay.

Results: All the extracts were moderately active against both the tested enzymes. The ethyl acetate and n-hexane fractions showed highest inhibition against acetylcholinesterase enzyme with IC₅₀ values of 128.81±0.44 µg/mL and 200.51±0.22 µg/mL, respectively. In case of butrylcholinesterase, ethyl acetate (IC₅₀; 145.71±0.19µg/mL) and DCM (IC₅₀; 269.31±0.45 µg/mL) fractions were the most active. All other fractions including crude methanol extract exhibited least inhibition. Overall, ethyl acetate fraction was the most active against both enzymes.

Conclusion: Results indicate the promising potential of V.oligocephala as source of new potential compounds for management of Alzheimer’s disease. However, further studies to isolate and identify the potential bioactive components are needed.

Keywords: Vernonia oligocephala, Acetylcholinesterase, Butyrylcholinesterase, Alzheimerâ€™s disease