JOURNAL OF THE SERBIAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY, cilt.81, sa.4, ss.357-368, 2016 (SCI-Expanded)
The neurobiological activity of the methanol extracts of thirteen Umbelliferae (Apiaceae) plants was tested against acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), and tyrosinase (TYR) using a high-throughput screening technique. Although the extracts displayed no to a low inhibition profile against the enzymes, the highest cholinesterase inhibition was observed with Heracleum platytaenium (32.52 +/- 3.27 % for AChE and 46.16 +/- 1.42 % for BChE) at 100 mu g mL(-1). Since neurodegeneration is linked to oxidative damage, the antioxidant potential of the extracts were examined through radical scavenging, metal-chelating capacity, and reducing power experiments and they exerted modest levels of activity varying according to the method. The extracts had a better ability to scavenge the nitric oxide radical (19.47 +/- 2.09 to 54.91 +/- 1.98 %). Since these species are known to be rich in coumarins, quantitative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis indicated the presence of xanthotoxin, angelicin, isopimpinellin, bergapten, and pimpinellin in Heracleum platytaenium and angelicin and imperatorin in Angelica sylvestris var. sylvestris.