<i>In Vitro</i>Screening of Three Indian Medicinal Plants for Their Phytochemicals, Anticholinesterase, Antiglucosidase, Antioxidant, and Neuroprotective Effects

Cooccurrence of Diabetes Mellitus and Alzheimer’s disease in elder people prompts scientists to develop multitarget agents that combat causes and symptoms of both diseases simultaneously. In line with this modern paradigm and as a follow-up to our previous studies, the present study is designed to investigate the crude methanolic extracts and subsequent CHCl3,n-BuOH, and H2O fractions ofAcalypha alnifolia,Pavetta indica,andOchna obtusatafor their inhibitory activities towards specific targets involved in AD and DM, namely, acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase, andα-glucosidase (α-Glc). The methanolic extract and its derived chloroform fractions exhibited remarkable inhibitory capacities with IC50values being found at theμg/mL level. Further studies on most active chloroform fractions presented a prominent ability to scavenge DPPH and ABTS reactive species and highest neuroprotective effect against H2O2induced cell injury. Phytochemical analysis showed a large amount of phenolics, flavonoids, and terpenoids in active fractions. In conclusion,A. alnifolia,P. indica,andO. obtusatacould be promising sources for the treatment of AD and DM since these fractions induced significant anticholinesterase, antidiabetic, antioxidant, and neuroprotection effects attributable to phenolic, flavonoid, and terpenoid contents and encourage further studies for development of multifunctional therapeutic agent for AD and DM dual therapy.