Elsevier

South African Journal of Botany

Volume 120, January 2019, Pages 163-169
South African Journal of Botany

Antioxidant and anticholinesterase effects of the ethanol extract, ethanol extract fractions and total alkaloids from the cultivated Ruta chalepensis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2018.04.011Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Ethyl acetate and butanol fractions contain the highest contents of phenolic compounds

  • Tested extracts showed an interesting antioxidant activity which is strongly in correlation with the phenolic content.

  • Ethanol extract and its fractions exhibited a remarkable inhibitory effect against AChE and BChE.

  • Alkaloids showed a high efficiency against AChE and BChE and were the most active among the tested extracts/fractions.

Abstract

Ruta chalepensis is a medicinal plant widely used in the folk medicine and have an interesting chemical composition of therapeutic interest. In the present work, we investigated the antioxidant activity of the ethanol extract, ethanol extract fractions, and total alkaloid extract of Ruta chalepensis using phosphomolebdenum, DPPH, ABTS, reducing power, CUPRAC, β-carotene bleaching and ferrous chelating assays. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibition was also determined spectrophotometrically using Ellman's colorimetric method. The tested extracts showed a significant antioxidant activity by scavenging free radicals, protecting β-carotene from oxidation, and by acting as reducing and chelating agents. The antioxidant activity was found to be strongly correlated with the polyphenol levels. Butanol and ethyl acetate fractions with high contents of total phenolics, flavonoids, and flavonols exhibited the strongest antioxidant activity. The samples exhibited also an interesting inhibitory effect against AChE and BChE. Chloroform fraction was the most efficient among the fractions in both AChE and BChE inhibition with IC50 values of 41.14 ± 2.85 μg/ml and 79.56 ± 3.66 μg/ml respectively. Total alkaloids showed a strong inhibitory effect against the two enzymes (IC50 = 10.37 ± 0.83 μg/ml against AChE and 14.10 ± 0.68 μg/ml against BChE) comparable to that of galanthamine. These findings suggest a possible use of Ruta chalepensis as a potential source of bioactive molecules with anticholinesterase and antioxidant properties.

Keywords

Ruta chalepensis
Antioxidant activity
Acetylcholinesterase
Butyrylcholinesterase
Phenolic compounds
Alkaloids

Abbreviations

AAE
ascorbic acid equivalents
AChE
acetylcholinesterase
AD
Alzheimer's disease
AGE
advanced glycation end-products
BChE
butyrylcholinesterase
TAA
total antioxidant activity

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