Tuzimski_2025_Fitoterapia__106750

Neurodegenerative diseases and cancers represent a significant global health burden, and should be effectively addressed with better therapeutic strategies. Therefore, new therapeutic agents are needed for the management of these diseases. The aim of the present study is to determine the in vitro cholinesterase inhibitory effects of extracts obtained from selected Corydalis species. Investigated alkaloid standards and most of the investigated plant extracts exhibited significant anti-cholinesterases activity. The kinetic results indicated that canadine competitively inhibited acetylcholinesterase, while butyrylcholinesterase was inhibited via a mixed mode. Protopine also exhibited mixed-type inhibition of acetylcholinesterase. The aim of the study was also to determine the cytotoxic activity of the tested extracts towards human melanoma cells lines (A375 and SK-MEL-3). All investigated extracts exhibited higher activity against SK-MEL-3 cells than the anticancer drug etoposide. The most cytotoxic extract was obtained from the rhizome of Corydalis solida with IC(50) = 11.3 microg/mL. The cytotoxic properties of the extract were also investigated in in vivo experiments using the Danio rerio larvae xenograft model. The obtained results confirmed a significant effect of the Corydalis solida rhizome extract on the number of cancer cells in a living organism. The activity of the extract in in vivo investigations was significantly higher than that of etoposide. Our results demonstrate that extracts obtained from Corydalis species, especially the Corydalis solida rhizome extract, can be recommended for further experiments in order to confirm the possibility of their application in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and, especially, human melanoma.