Potential Multifunctional Agents for Dual Therapy of Age-Related and Associated Diseases: Alzheimer’s Disease and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Currently there is no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and there seems to be an age-related link between AD and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in terms of incidence, symptoms and causation. The objective of this experiment is to assess the biological potentials of methanol extracts and its derived fractions of four Ayurvedic plants Buchania axillaris, Hemidesmus indicus, Pavetta indica and Ochna obtusa to develop potent agents for dual therapy of both AD and DM. Plant extracts in different concentrations were used in five colorimetric assays: Cholinesterase (AChE, BuChE inhibition) assay, Glucosidase (α–Glu) inhibition assay, an antioxidant activity assay, and MTT assay for cell viability and neuroprotective effects. It was found that that methanolic extract and its derived chloroform fraction of plants exhibited high inhibitory activity against AChE, BuChE, α–Glc enzymes. The active chloroform fractions also showed high antioxidant potential and neuroprotective capacity against H₂O₂ induced oxidative stress in human neuroblastoma cells. In all the assays, the samples were statistically different than the negative control meaning that the samples with the plant extracts were more effective than the controls without the treatment, while being as effective as the positive controls, which included current drugs used to treat the diseases individually.