Abstract
This study was aimed to determine the potentialities of Pimpinella stewartii leaves extracts fractions towards the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity as well as reduction of iron-induced lipid peroxidation in male Wistar rats (age – 50 days; weight – 280–300 g). Initially, animals were divided into 17 groups with 7 rats in each group. Gallic acid and quercetin were used as standards. The AChE activities of aqueous and ethanolic extract fractions of P. stewartii leaves were determined using standard protocol. Results showed that ethyl acetate extract fractions significantly (P = 0.01) inhibited the enzyme in a concentration dependent manner when compared to the aqueous extract fractions and the control group. Gallic acid and quercetin depicted higher inhibition of AChE activities than ethyl acetate extract fractions. Additionally, the IC50 values for aqueous extract fractions, ethyl acetate extract fractions, gallic acid, and quercetin were estimated as 72.6 ± 2.72, 30.41 ± 0.56, 8.4 ± 0.22, and 6.82 ± 0.2 µg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, the lipid peroxidation activities of extracts fractions were assessed by estimating thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) production. Both the extracts fractions showed significant protection against lipid peroxidation but the ethyl acetate extract fractions exhibited comparatively higher reductions in TBARS levels (P = 0.001). However, gallic acid and quercetin revealed higher reductions of pro-oxidants than the extracts fractions. In conclusion, findings of this study demonstrated pronounced AChE inhibitory activity and reduced lipid peroxidation trait of ethyl acetate extract fractions of P. stewartii leaves, and thus, suggested its paramount role as therapeutics against Alzheimer disease.