ABSTRACT
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Willughbeia cochinchinensis (WC) has been used in Vietnamese traditional medicine for the treatment of dementia as well as diarrhea, heartburn, and cutaneous abscess and as a diuretic. AIM: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most prevalent diseases in elderly individuals. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitors have been widely used to treat patients with AD. In the present study, we investigated anti-AChE and anti-BChE activities of a natural product, WC, for its potential applications in therapies to prevent/treat dementia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: First, compounds extracted from WC were tested for their AChE and BChE inhibitory activities in vitro. Second, in vivo behavioral experiments were performed to investigate the effects of WC at doses of 100, 150, and 200mg/kg on scopolamine (1.5mg/kg)-induced memory and cognitive deficits in mice. The behavior of mice treated with and without WC and/or scopolamine was tested using the Y-maze, Morris water maze, and novel object recognition task. RESULTS: The results of the in vitro assay demonstrated anti-AChE and anti-BChE activities of the compounds extracted from WC. The results of behavioral experiments showed that the administration of WC prevented 1) scopolamine-induced decrease in spontaneous alternation (%) behavior in the Y-maze, 2) scopolamine-induced deficits in spatial learning and memory in the Morris water maze, and 3) scopolamine-induced deficits in novel object recognition. These results indicate that WC prevents cognitive and memory deficits induced by scopolamine injection. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that WC may represent a novel candidate for the treatment of memory and cognitive deficits in humans with dementia.
Subject(s)
Apocynaceae , Behavior, Animal/drug effects , Cholinesterase Inhibitors/pharmacology , Memory Disorders/prevention & control , Nootropic Agents/pharmacology , Plant Extracts/pharmacology , Recognition, Psychology/drug effects , Scopolamine , Spatial Learning/drug effects , Acetylcholinesterase/metabolism , Animals , Apocynaceae/chemistry , Butyrylcholinesterase/metabolism , Cholinesterase Inhibitors/isolation & purification , Cognition/drug effects , Disease Models, Animal , GPI-Linked Proteins/antagonists & inhibitors , GPI-Linked Proteins/metabolism , Locomotion/drug effects , Male , Maze Learning/drug effects , Memory Disorders/chemically induced , Memory Disorders/enzymology , Memory Disorders/psychology , Mice , Nootropic Agents/isolation & purification , Phytotherapy , Plant Extracts/isolation & purification , Plants, Medicinal , Swimming , Time Factors , WoodABSTRACT
Phytochemical investigation of the CH2Cl2 extract of the Vietnamese medicinal plant Caesalpinia sappan Linn resulted in the isolation of a new cassane-type diterpene named tomocin I (1). Its chemical structure was determined by NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric analysis.
Subject(s)
Caesalpinia/chemistry , Plant Extracts/chemistry , Molecular Structure , Plant Extracts/isolation & purification , Seeds/chemistryABSTRACT
A novel and rare 1,4-dehydrated ceramide, embelamide (1), and a new C-glycoalkaloid which is based on a ß-carboline ring system, 1-(2'-deoxy-α-d-ribopyranosyl)-ß-carboline (4), were isolated from the CHCl3 soluble fraction of the leaves of Embelia ribes (Myrsinaceae), together with thirteen known compounds (2-3, 5-15). Their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic data. Compounds 1, and 5-12 possessed significant α-glucosidase inhibitory activity in a concentration-dependent manner, and showed more potent inhibitory activity, with IC50 values ranging from 1.3 to 155.0 µM, than that of a positive control acarbose (IC50, 214.5 µM).
