Secondary metabolites of Helichrysum plicatum DC. subsp. plicatum flowers as strong carbonic anhydrase, cholinesterase and α-glycosidase inhibitors.

Helichrysum plicatum species are used in Turkish folk medicine as lithagogue, diuretic, and nephritic. Research on the methanol (MeOH) extract of flowers of H. plicatum DC. subsp. plicatum resulted in the isolation of eight known compounds (1-8). The chemical structures of the compounds were determined as β-sitosterol (1), apigenin (2), nonacosanoic acid (3), astragalin (4), β-sitosterol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (5), helichrysin A (6), helichrysin B (7), and isosalipurposide (8) by spectroscopic and chromatographic/spectrometric methods, including 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Nonacosanoic acid (3) was isolated for the first time from H. plicatum DC. subsp. plicatum. The MeOH extract and isolated compounds were evaluated for their in vitro human carbonic anhydrase I (hCAI) and II (hCAII), acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), and α-glycosidase inhibitory activities. The IC50 values of H. plicatum DC. subsp. plicatum MeOH extract for hCAI, hCAII, AChE, BChE, and α-glycosidase were found to be 77.87, 52.90, 115.50, 117.46, and 81.53 mg/mL, respectively. The compounds showed IC50 values of 1.43-4.47, 1.40-4.32, 1.69-2.90, 1.09-3.89, and 1.61-3.80 μM against hCAI, hCAII, AChE, BChE, and α-glycosidase, respectively. In summary, H. plicatum DC. subsp. plicatum secondary metabolites demonstrated strong inhibitory effects especially against hCAI and hCAII, whereas the MeOH extract showed a weak inhibitory effect on all enzymes.