EXPLORING MEDICINAL PLANTS FOR ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE: QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS AND IN-SILICO STUDIES

Abstract

The main purpose of the recent study was to use both qualitative and quantitative screening techniques to determine whether the leaf extracts of the two medicinal plants Hibiscus rosa-sinensis and Nerium oleander contained any phytochemicals. During the qualitative analysis, the phytochemical components, including carbohydrates, triterpenoids, terpinoides, glycosides, lignins, alkaloids, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, saponins, tannins, quinones, and anthroquinones, were screened in the plant extracts using accepted techniques. For 8 phytochemical tests, the plant's aqueous extract, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, produced favourable findings. For ten experiments, the Nerium oleander extract produced favourable results. The use of standard qualitative tests are still frequently employed for the initial screening of the phytochemicals of plants, despite the fact that there are many advanced methods for determining phytochemicals. The pharmaceutical industry values plants for their extensive structural variety and diverse spectrum of pharmacological effects. A range of ailments have been treated with medicinal plants due to their possible pharmacological qualities. Antioxidant, antineoplastic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and further activities are a few of these characteristics. The phytoconstituents of a medicinal plant, either individually or collectively, determine its therapeutic value. Alzheimer's disease, which is one of the most common form of dementia, is one of the greatest unmet medical needs. Due to poor pharmacokinetic qualities and safety concerns, there are fewer new compounds entering the market. The current work uses in silico experiments to demonstrate the molecular interactions of currently approved antipsychotic medications with the many protein targets linked to AD. v The key goal of the research work is to screen natural chemicals utilising computational methods for BuChE inhibition. Using the 3D structure of BuChE, docking-based virtual screening was conducted a to look for possible AD inhibitors. SwissDock was used to conduct docking studies between ligands and enzymes and to analyse the Lipinski Rule of Five in this work. It was hypothesised that various phytochemical substances will inhibit BuChE, respectively. When compared to Thioflavin T (-7.90 kcal/mol), one of the most well-known inhibitors of Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), and many other inhibitors including decamethonium, propidium, huprine, and ethopropazine, the docking results showed that riboflavin and oleagenin have a prominent and promising inhibitory potential against BuChE. In contrast to the target molecule BuChE, these chosen phytochemical compounds demonstrated superior interactions, making them intriguing research subjects for follow-up investigations into potential Alzheimer's disease therapies.