Abstract

Alangium salvifolium wang is a medicinal plant of the Alanginaceae family which was used as a traditional medicine to cure or prevent a variety of ailments. The aim of the study was to investigate and compare the phytochemical profiles, antioxidant and anticholinesterase effects of ethanol (EASR), dichloromethane (DASR), chloroform (CASR) and aqueous (AASR) extracts of A. salvifolium root. Phytochemical screening was done by using qualitative methods whereas total phenol content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and total flavonol content (TFlC) were determined by Folin-Ciocalteau reagent, aluminium trichloride and sodium acetate solution methods, respectively. Antioxidant activities were assessed by DPPH radical scavenging, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and total antioxidant content (TAC) assay. Ellman's assay was applied to investigate acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzyme inhibitory effect. Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of valuable phytochemicals with significantly (P*<0.05, P**<0.01, P***<0.001) different content of TPC, TFC and TFlC. CASR, among the extracts, had shown the highest TPC (492.38±22.34 mg/g gallic acid), followed by TFC (276.25±17.23 mg/g quercetin) and TFlC (332.92±7.07 mg/g quercetin). Moreover, maximum antioxidant potential, including DPPH radical scavenging (IC50: 11.26±1.29 µg/ml), FRAP (EC50: 26.64±2.17 µg/ml) and TAC (639.55±10.51 mg/g ascorbic acid) was found in the CASR. Donepezil, a standard drug, showed maximum inhibitory effect of AChE (IC50: 7.94±1.12 µg/ml) and BChE (IC50:12.58±2.15 µg/ml). CASR followed by DASR had potent inhibitory effects while AASR had mild and EASR practically had no inhibitory effects of the enzymes. The present study has demonstrated that the root extracts of the A. salvifolium have moderate to potent antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory effects.