Planta Med 2008; 74 - PI47
DOI: 10.1055/s-0028-1084955

Inhibitory effect of essential oils from Lavandula viridis and Eucalyptus globulus on acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase enzymes

S Gonçalves 1, A Romano 1
  • 1IBB – Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, CBME – Centre for Molecular and Structural Biomedicine. University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005–139 Faro, Portugal

Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter inhibited primarily by acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and secondly by butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), considered to play an important role in the pathology of several neurological disorders such as Alzheimer disease (AD). There is still a great demand for new drug candidates for AD treatment. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate the AChE and BChE inhibitory activity of essential oils from Lavandula viridis L' Hér (Lamiaceae) and Eucalyptus globulus Labill (Myrtaceae). The activities were measured using a 96-well microplate reader based on in vitro Ellman's method. A range of concentrations (50–300µg ml-1) of the essential oils was tested in order to calculate the IC50 values. Results showed that L. viridis and E. globulus essential oils displayed remarkable inhibitory activity, being both more active against AChE (IC50 values of 142.32±9.43 and 100.98±11.03µg ml-1, respectively) than BChE (214.24±12.55 and 244.90±13.44µg ml-1). Perry et al. [1] observed no AChE inhibitory activity of L. angustifolia oil at 0.1µl ml-1. More recently, 40% and 34% of inhibition was obtained using oil (1mg ml-1) [2] or methanolic extract (0.1mg ml-1) of the same species [3], respectively. L. pedunculata oil (0.5mg ml-1) [2] and L. officinalis extract (1mg ml-1) [4] exhibited 57 and 22% of enzyme inhibition, respectively. Thus, we could conclude that L. viridis seems to be more active than other Lavandula species already studied in the inhibition of AChE activity. Further work will be done in order to specify the components, of the essential oils from both species studied, responsible for the activities observed.

Acknowledgements: Sandra Gonçalves acknowledges a grant from Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (FCT, Grant SFRH/BPD/31534/2006)

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