ABSTRACT:
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder that mainly affects the elderly population and is considered to be responsible for majority of the dementia among old peoples. Because of its debilitating nature, it becomes a burden on the society. Keeping in view the increasing old population, the significance of AD is further compounded as the number of identified cases is estimated to be many folds in coming few decades. On the other hand, currently there is no cure for this disorder and much of the treatments available can only delay the progression of the disease Therefore there is an urgent need for a different approach to the treatment of AD. Plants have been a source of medicine for the treatment of several disease including cognitive disorders, like AD since innumerable tirhes. Therefore ethnopharmacological screening of plants may be a better option in the discovery of new drugs for AD therapy. Treatment of Alzheimer's disease is based on inhibition of the enzyme Acetylcholinesterase (ACHE). The present paper deals with screening of wild edible fruits for inhibitory property to Acetylcholinesterase Enzyme. The study was carried out on methanol and aqueous extracts of fresh ripe and unripe Ficus bengalensis, Ziziphus oenoplia, Ficus racemosa, Bridelia retusa, Carissa carandas and Annona squamosa fruits. ACHE activity was measured by colorimetric method. Eserine was used as reference inhibitor for determining percent inhibition. Results show that fresh unripe fruits have significantly higher inhibition than ripe fruits except Carissa carandas. The highest ACHE inhibition (81.5 %) was found in methanol extract of fresh unripe fruit Bridelia retusa and lowest inhibition (4.48%) was observed in aqueous extract of fresh ripe fruit Annona squamosa. Further it was also noticed that ripening process decrease inhibition potency in edible fruits. From the findings of this study it can be concluded that consumption of fresh unripe fruits may be more beneficial than ripen fruits.
Cite this article:
Sahu and Pradhan (2016). Acetylcholinesterase Inhibition Property in Wild Edible Fruits of Chhattisgarh. Journal of Ravishankar University (Part-B: Science), 29(1), pp.123-124.