Researches on acetycholinesterase inhibitory activity of some Salvia species growing Turkey

Salvia species (Lamiaceae) known as ?adaçayı? in our country, are one of the important medicinal and aromatic plants. Since Salvia species have been reported to be used for memory-enhancing purpose traditionally in Europe and China, in this study, it was aimed to determine acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-inhibiting potentials, which is the most effective strategy used in the treatment of Alzheimer?s disease, and antioxidant activity of 55 Salvia taxa growing in Turkey, 28 of which are endemic. AChE inhibitory activities of the dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, and methanol extracts prepared from these species have been tested at 25, 50, and 100 ?g/ml concentrations by spectrophotometric Ellman method in ELISA microplate reader. Antioxidant activity of the extracts was performed via determination of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrilhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and ferric on-chelating effect. As a result, active subfraction was obtained by applying activity-guided fractionation with various chromatographic techniques to the dichlorometane extract of S. fruticosa, which was found to be the most active. In addition, in the extract, ferric-reducing antioxidant power test as well as total phenol and total flavonoid contents were carried out. On the other hand, essential oil of S. fruticosa was obtained and its chemical composition was established by GC-MS. AChE and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibition and antioxidant activity of the essential oil were examined and found that it had moderate anti-AChE effect. Our results are in accordance with traditional utilization of Salvia species for memory-enhancing purpose.