Enzyme inhibitors from the aril of Myristica fragrans
S. Sathya, Nilupa R. Amarasinghe, Lalith Jayasinghe, Hiroshi Araya, Yukio Fujimoto
Abstract
The fruit aril of Myristica fragrans, commonly known as “mace”, is a popular spice in worldwide. Chromatographic separation of the combined ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and the methanol (MeOH) extracts of the aril of Myristica fragrans furnished malabaricone C (1), 3-(3-methyl-5-pentyl-2-furanyl)-2(E)-propenoic acid (2), licarin A (3), maceneolignan B (4) and elemicin (5). Compounds 1–5 were screened for acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and α-glucosidase enzyme inhibitory activities and DPPH radical scavenging activity. Compound 1 showed the highest AChE inhibitory activity (IC50 2.06 ± 0.04 μg/mL) and antioxidant activity (IC50 6.56 ± 0.02 μg/mL) while compound 2 displayed the most potent α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (IC50 50.91 ± 0.01 μg/mL). This is the first report of α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of 2. Results indicate that the aril of M. fragrans showed good anticholinesterase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities and antioxidant effect in-vitro that have a potential to be used as the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.