Screening for cholinesterase inhibitors in selected fruits and vegetables

Abstract

Plants deliver a great number of compounds among which some of them can exert a beneficial therapeutic role in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (e.g. huperzine A, galanthamine, physostigmine). In the present study it was shown that 17 edible fruits or vegetables effectively inhibited AChE and/or BChE. The highest anti-ChE activity was demonstrated in the case of the juice produced from peach (Prunus persica L.), water extracts prepared from dill leaves, wild strawberry fruit, potato tubers and juices produced using apples var. Idared and Champion. Extracts from parsley (leaves) and celery exhibited significantly higher activity towards AChE than BChE. AChE activity was not diminished by extracts prepared from strawberry, bean, broccoli, parsley (root) and tomato. These results confirm that selected fruits and vegetables can be an interesting source of ChE inhibitors with the possible potential in the context of the restoring of cognitive function and improving the memory. Therefore, there is a possibility to compose the diet containing fruits and vegetables aiming the protection against memory deficits caused by AD.