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Skimmianine, a furoquinoline alkaloid from Zanthoxylum nitidum as a potential acetylcholinesterase inhibitor

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Abstract

Skimmianine (1), a newly discovered strong acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor, along with nine weakly or no active compounds, toddalolactone (2), dictamnine (3), γ-fagarine (4), magnolone (5), (−)-(S)-edulinine (6), zanthodioline (7), edulitine (8), 5,6,7-trimethoxycoumarin (9), and haplopine (10) have been isolated from Zanthoxylum nitidum (Z. nitidum). Skimmianine (1) inhibited 50% of AChE activity at the concentrations of 8.6 ± 0.7 μg/ml when the IC50 value of Physostigmine as a standard was 0.013 ± 0.002 μg/ml. Antiacetylcholinesterase activity of skimmianine (1) was also supported by TLC bioautographic assay. The structure activity relationship on the anti-acetylcholinesterase activity of the quinoline moiety is also discussed in this article.

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 20802031) and the Excellent Young Teachers Program of Lanzhou University of Technology (no. Q200904).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Science and Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, 730050, People’s Republic of China

    Zhong-duo Yang, Dong-bo Zhang, Jin Ren & Ming-jun Yang

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  1. Zhong-duo Yang
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  2. Dong-bo Zhang
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  3. Jin Ren
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Correspondence to Zhong-duo Yang.

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Yang, Zd., Zhang, Db., Ren, J. et al. Skimmianine, a furoquinoline alkaloid from Zanthoxylum nitidum as a potential acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. Med Chem Res 21, 722–725 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00044-011-9581-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00044-011-9581-9

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