Interactions between Ginkgo biloba L. and Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi in multicomponent mixtures towards cholinesterase inhibition and ROS scavenging

• Published in: Food research international Vol. 140; p. 109857
• Main Authors: Delerue, Teresa, Fátima Barroso, M., Dias-Teixeira, Mónica, Figueiredo-González, Maria, Delerue-Matos, Cristina, Grosso, Clara
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canada Elsevier Ltd 01-02-2021
• Subjects: Additive effect; Antagonism; Cholinesterases; CompuSyn; Ginkgo biloba L; Oxidative stress; Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi; Synergism; Additive effect; CompuSyn; Ginkgo biloba L; Oxidative stress; Antagonism; Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi; Cholinesterases; Synergism
• ISSN: 0963-9969; 1873-7145
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2020.109857

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•First evaluation on synergism/antagonism of G. biloba and S. baicalensis mixtures.•Mostly, mixtures were antagonist for cholinesterase inhibition and H2O2 scavenging.•A food supplement with both plants was also antagonist for cholinesterase assay.•Only a slight synergism was observed for the food supplement tested against H2O2.•Caution must be taken when buying food supplements online.
This study gives new insights to understand the type of interactions between Ginkgo biloba L. and Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, two Chinese medicinal plants with well documented neuroprotective effects, on three targets in Alzheimer’s disease (AD): acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholnesterase (BuChE) inhibition and hydrogen peroxide scavenging. Individual samples, binary mixtures with different proportions of both plant species, and also a commercial multicomponent combination containing both plants together with unroasted Coffea arabica L. and quercetin-3-O-rutinoside were used to perform this in vitro evaluation. Sample phenolic profiles were also determined by HPLC-DAD, showing the presence of several flavonoid glycosides, phenolic acids and a methylxanthine. In order to investigate the possible synergism/antagonism interaction, data obtained were analyzed by CompuSyn software. The results showed that G. biloba and S. baicalensis alone display better activities than in mixtures, most of the interactions exhibiting different degrees of antagonism. A slight synergism interaction was only observed for the commercial multicomponent mixture tested against H2O2. Further analysis was carried out to understand which compounds could be responsible for the antagonistic interaction. Seventeen single pure compounds present in all extracts were tested against AChE inhibition, most of them displaying weak or no activity. Only caffeine had a remarkable activity. Five different binary and quaternary mixture compositions were design to deepen the interaction between these compounds, revealing mainly phenolic acid-flavonoid, flavonoid-flavonoid and methylxanthine-flavonoid-phenolic acid antagonistic interactions. These results clearly show that, for the targets evaluated, there is no potentiation of the neuroprotective effect by combining S. baicalensis and G. biloba extracts.