Screening of plants of Amaryllidaceae and related families from Panama as sources of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors

Abstract

Context: This is the first comprehensive study of the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity of species of the family Amaryllidaceae and 13 related families from Panama.

Objective: Exploration of the potential sources of AChE inhibitors with radical scavenging activity from Amaryllidaceae and 13 related families from Panama.

Materials and methods: The studied plants were screened with anti-acetylcholinesterase bioautographic and DPPH free radical scavenging assays.

Results: From the 57 plants studied, eight (14%) showed strong inhibition of AChE, and 29 (51%) plants showed moderate inhibition of AChE.

Discussion and conclusion: Sagittaria lancifolia L. (Alismataceae), Crinum jagus (Thomps.) (Amaryllidaceae), Crinum x amabile Donn (Amaryllidaceae), Crinum zeylanicum (L.) L. (Amaryllidaceae), Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora (Lemoine ex Anonymous) N.E. Br. (Iridaceae), Sisyrinchium tinctorium Kunth (Iridaceae), Agapanthus praecox subsp. orientalis (F.M. Leight.) F.M. Leight. (Liliaceae), and Xyris jupicai Rich. (Xyridaceae) were the most active plants, inhibiting AChE at 100 μg on the TLC bioautographic method for the detection of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Out of the eight most active plants, two plants, Crinum zeylanicum (L.) L. and Xyris jupicai Rich., showed antioxidant activity.

Keywords::

• Acetylcholinesterase
• inhibitors
• screening
• Amaryllidaceae
• Crinum
• Panama

Acknowledgements

Our gratitude goes to all taxonomists who identified the plants and to the National Environmental Authority of Panama for granting permission to collect plants in national parks.

Declaration of interest

This work was supported by grants awarded to one of the authors (A.I.C.) by the International Foundation for Science and Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (IFS grant no F3766-1) and the National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (SENACYT), Panama (grant no. P-06-0042A). Thanks are also due to the Organization of American States for the support to Project SEDI/AICD/AE/036/06-09.