Acetylcholinesterase inhibition studies of alkaloid components from Crinum asiaticum var. sinicum: in vitro assessments by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations

Abstract

Alkaloids are among the most important and best-known secondary metabolites as sources of new drugs from medicinal plants and marine organisms. A phytochemical investigation of the whole plant of Crinum asiaticum var. sinicum resulted in the isolation of seven alkaloids (1–7), including one new dimeric compound, bis-(-)-8-demethylmaritidine (1). Their structures were elucidated using NMR and HR-ESI-MS. The absolute configuration of new compound 1 was established by circular dichroism spectroscopy. All isolated compounds were evaluated for their inhibitory effects on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in vitro. Among them, compound 1 exhibited the most potent AChE inhibition. Moreover, molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations were carried out for the most active compound to investigate their binding interactions and dynamics behavior of the AChE protein-ligand complex. Therefore, compound 1 may be a potential candidate for effectively treating Alzheimer’s disease.

Keywords:

• Crinum asiaticum var. sinicum
• alkaloid
• acetylcholinesterase inhibitor
• protein-ligand complex
• Alzheimer’s disease

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology under grand number ĐTĐL.CN-128/21 and National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. NRF-2022R1C1C1004636).