A preliminary investigation of anticholinesterase and antioxidant properties of various extracts of Vernonia anthelmintica in relation to the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

The complexity of the underlying pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and substandard results of existing treatment, demands persistent research for the development of new therapeutics. As natural antioxidant has attracted considerable attention on this regards, the present study evaluated and validated antioxidant and anti-cholinesterase activity of Vernonia anthelmintica seeds. Different extracts were collected after sequential extraction of plant seeds by using pet ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, methanol and water as solvents. Antioxidant activity of the extracts was tested by using superoxide, nitric oxide (NO) and 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assays, whereas, acetylcholine esterase (AChE) inhibition property was assessed by Ellman’s method. Results revealed that all the extracts produced some degree of both the activities in a concentration-dependent manner. While pet ether extract exhibited weakest, methanolic extract displayed potent radical scavenging and anti-cholinesterase properties in all the assays with IC50 of 159.71 μg/ml against AChE inhibition and 98.51, 120.22 and 170.79 μg/ml against superoxide, NO and DPPH radical scavenging assays respectively. Presence of an array of secondary metabolites with modest flavonoid and phenol content in the methanolic extract is accountable for these desired activities. Collectively, reports from our experiments covey that V. anthelmintica possess significant AChE inhibitory and antioxidant property and thus can be further evaluated in search of potential disease-modifying therapeutic for management of neurodegenerative diseases like AD.