Evaluation of antiglycosidase and anticholinesterase activities of Boehmeria nivea.

In this era, major community worldwide is suffering from diabetes type II, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. To overcome these diseases, in the screening of Korean medicinal plants, we studied the whole plant of Boehmeria nivea (B. nivea). The methanolic leaf, stem and root extracts of B. nivea and their respective n-hexane, methylene chloride (CH(2)Cl(2)), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), n-butanol (BuOH) and aqueous fractions were investigated for their total phenolic content (TPC), 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity, alpha-glucosidase, beta-glucosidase, alpha-galactosidase, beta-galactosidase, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzyme inhibition activities. Profound TPC and DPPH free radical scavenging activities were observed in the EtOAc and BuOH fractions of root, where the BuOH fraction showed high-pitched alpha-glucosidase inhibition and the EtOAc layer showed the maximum beta-glucosidase inhibition. Furthermore, the leaf extract demonstrated the highest beta-galactosidase inhibitory activity, but no alpha-galactosidase inhibition was seen in any of the plant parts. Notable BChE and moderate AChE inhibitory activity was found in whole plant. It can be suggested that whole plant of B. nivea provides a strong biochemical rationale as one of the good choices for the treatment of diabetes type II, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases (AD, etc).