Determining the level of carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibition of plant extracts prepared by different solvents; new approaches in ca research

Carbonic anhydrase (CA) is a vitally important enzyme in the removal of metabolically produced carbon dioxide (CO2) from the medium through its conversion to bicarbonate (HCO3-) and hydrogen (H+) ions. Today the inhibitors of CA found in mammalian blood are either used or investigated as drug active ingredient for the treatment of the widespread diseases such as cancer, obesity, glaucoma, neurological disorders and epilepsy. The common drugs, most of which are synthetic, found in the market have many side effects and low solubility in bodily fluids. The high bio-incompatibility and side effects of the synthetic drugs increased the tendency towards plant based drugs. In this study CA inhibitory activities of plant extracts were determined. For this purpose, esterase and hydratase activities commonly used to determine the carbonic anhydrase activity were utilized. Unlike hydratase activity, of esterase is the physiological activity of the enzyme. During this study, three different solvents (water, acetonitrile and methanol) were performed using the samples in the extraction experiments. Chromatographic profiles from the HPLC of the samples were determined along with the activity measurements. The effect of active composition of the extracts resulting from the type of solvent were demonstrated by comparing chromatographic profiles and and activities. With this work, an important step in the determination of the pharmaceutically active substance was completed in finding new carbonic anhydrase inhibitors. With further investigations for the treatment of many diseases with fewer side effects or no side effects, new drug leads having high bio-compatibility with the body can be developed.