Molecular networking based dereplication of AChE inhibitory compounds from the medicinal plant Vincetoxicum funebre (Boiss. & Kotschy)

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease affecting 47 million people worldwide. While acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors such as donepezil and galantamine are leading drugs in the symptomatic treatment of AD, new AChE inhibitors continue to be explored for improved potency and selectivity. Herein, a molecular networking approach using high resolution (HR-MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS²) has been used for rapid chemical profiling of an extract of the medicinal plant Vincetoxicum funebre Boiss. & Kotschy (Apocynaceae family) that was active against AChE. A total of 44 compounds were identified by combining the MN with traditional natural product methods, including the isolation and identification of five known compounds (13, 41-44) and a novel C₁₃-norisoprenoid (40). In addition, the potential inhibitory activity of all 44 compounds was evaluated against the AChE enzyme via molecular docking to provide further support to the proposed structures. The glycosylated flavonoid querciturone (31) exhibited the highest affinity with a docking score value of -13.43 kJ/mol. Another five compounds showed stronger docking scores against AChE than the clinically used donepezil including the most active isolated compound daucosterol (44), with a binding affinity of -10.11 kJ/mol towards AChE. These findings broaden our understanding of Vincetoxicum metabolites and highlight the potential of glycosylated flavonoids as AChE inhibitors.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Anti-cholinesterase Activity of Crude Drugs Selected from the Ingredients of Incense Sticks and Heartwood of Chamaecyparis obtusa

An effective agent for the treatment and/or prevention of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is needed due to the number of patients in the acute curve. In our research program to investigate effective agents for AD, we focused on crude drugs which consisted of incense sticks widely used in Asian countries including Japan. We selected 9 drugs as “aromatic” crude drugs and 2 as basal crude drugs. Among the samples tested, the essential oil obtained from the leaf of Cryptomeria japonica showed the most potent anti-acetylcholinesterase activity with 64.8% of inhibition at 100 μg/mL. In addition, no sample showed significant inhibition against β-secretase. From these results, the crude drugs selected in this study may be effective for AD therapy rather than prevention. The active principles of anti-acetylcholinesterase were investigated by activity-guided fractionation, and kaur-16-ene, nezukol and ferruginol were successfully identified, the IC50 values were 640, 300 and 95 μM, respectively. Kaur-16-ene and nezukol inhibited acetylcholinesterase in the mixed type mode, while ferruginol inhibited it in the competitive mode. In addition, nezukol and ferruginol showed anti-butyrylcholinesterase activity, the IC50 values were 155 and 22 μM, respectively. We also focused on the heartwood of Chamaecyparis obtusa, since this tree has been used as a building material for the heartwood of C. japonica. Ethyl acetate extract of C. obtusa showed anti-acetylcholinesterase activity of 37.7% inhibition at 100 μg/mL. The active principle was determined to be (-)-hinokinin by activity-guided fractionation and the IC50 value was 176 μM. These results suggest that the leaf of C. japonica and heartwood of C. obtusa may be suitable agents for AD therapy when administered through the nasal system as an aroma supplement.