Acetylcholinesterase-inhibitory properties of dietary supplements derived from natural products marketed against neurodegenerative disorders

Tereza Bendová

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Every year, more and more people are diagnosed with neurodegenerative diseases. With increasing life expectancy, it is expected that the number of people diagnosed with the disease will increase. The drugs that are currently available to treat only address the symptoms, and many of them have side effects. That is why it is necessary to look for new drugs. The best option seems to be plants that show the ability to inhibit the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE). This study is focused on determination of in vitro AChE-inhibitory effect of commonly available dietary supplements marketed for treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), namely curcumin, Boswellia serrata, Mucuna pruriens, Centella asiatica, Withania somnifera, Bacopa monnieri, Ginkgo biloba, glutathione, choline, and lecithine. Galathamine was used as a control. Only in the case of a single W. somnifera, the IC50 was less than 512 μg/mL, namely 283.36 μg/mL. The remaining samples showed an IC50 higher than 512 μg/mL. W. somnifera extract was further fractionated with the use of a semi-preparative HPLC method and retested for AChE inhibition. . The 5th faction showed the most promising results, which are most likely due to withanolides. The results suggest that W. somnifera could be helpful for people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, especially AD. However, further research is needed. The rest of the tested samples are either useless in treatment of neurodegenerative disorders or are exerting their therapeutic benefit via other mechanism not related to AChE inhibition.

Keywords

Alzheimer's disease, acetylcholine, Ashwagandha, dietary supplements, medicinal plants, plant extracts

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 25. 4. 2021

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedúci: Ing. Jan Tauchen, Ph.D.
• Oponent: Johana Rondevaldová, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources

Master programme / odbor:
Natural Resources and Environment / Natural Resources and Environment