Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology 2011-10-01

Myrtenal inhibits acetylcholinesterase, a known Alzheimer target.

Dorothea Kaufmann, Anudeep Kaur Dogra, Michael Wink

Index: J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 63(10) , 1368-71, (2011)

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Abstract

Inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is a common treatment for early stages of the most general form of dementia, Alzheimer's disease. In this study selected components of essential oils, which carry a variety of important functional groups, were tested for their in-vitro anti-acetylcholinesterase activity.In-vitro anti-acetylcholinesterase activity was measured by an adapted version of Ellman's colorimetric assay.1,8-cineole, carvacrol, myrtenal and verbenone apparently inhibited AChE; the highest inhibitory activity was observed for myrtenal (IC50 = 0.17 mm). This is the first study showing the AChE inhibitory activity of myrtenal.Our investigations provided evidence for the efficacy of monoterpenes as inhibitors of AChE.© 2011 The Authors. JPP © 2011 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.