Screening of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors in herbal medicines

The pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been linked to a deficiency in the brain neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Subsequently, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors were used for the treatment of mild to moderate AD. The goal of this study was determine the candidate therapeutic herbal medicines on AD through AChE inhibition. In the present study, the AChE inhibitory effects of 255 herbal medicines were evaluated using an AChE assay. 14 herbal medicines increased the AChE activity but 8 herbal medicines inhibited the AChE activity more than 50 %. When we analyzed the AChE activity of each herbal medicine on the based of therapeutic category on Herbalogy, the category of collecting dispersed essence energy had the highest number of herbal medicines (2 out of 9) among of 8 herbal extracts which have AChE inhibition activities. However, the category of warming inside had the highest number of herbal medicines among of 14 herbal extracts which have AChE increasing activities (2 out of 7). When we compared our results with other researchers’ results, the correlation was significantly high (p = 0.0003). Our results provide the potential drug candidates for further studies by unbiased screening.