Acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitory compounds from Chelidonium majus (Papaveraceae)

The roots and aerial parts of Chelidonium majus L. were extracted with EtOH and fractionated using CHCl3 and EtOH. Repeated column chromatography, preparative TLC and crystallization led to the isolation of five isoquinoline alkaloids, stylopine (3), chelidonine (4), homochelidonine (5), protopine (6), and allocryptopine (7), along with two isolation artifacts 6-ethoxydihydrosanguinarine (1) and 6-ethoxydihydrochelerythrine (2). All isolated compounds were tested for human blood acetylcholinesterase (HuAChE) and human plasma butyrylcholinesterase (HuBuChE) inhibitory activity. The isolation artifacts exhibited the highest activity against HuAChE and HuBuChE with IC50 values of 0.83 +/- 0.04 microM and 4.20 +/- 0.19 microM for 6-ethoxydihydrochelerythrine and 3.25 +/- 0.24 microM and 4.51 +/- 0.31 microM for 6-ethoxydihydrosanguinarine. The most active of the naturally-occurring alkaloids was chelidonine, which inhibited both HuAChE and HuBuChE in a dose-dependent manner with IC50 values of 26.8 +/- 1.2 microM and 31.9 +/- 1.4 microM, respectively.