Lignans from a wild vegetable (Patrinina villosa) able to combat Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

Patrinina villosa Juss. is a delicious wild vegetable, which is widely distributed in China, Korea, Japan and North America. P. villosa, which smells fresh and is highly nutritious, can be made into a salad, used as greens and as a porridge and soup. Phytochemical investigation of the 70% EtOH extract showed the presence of two dibenzylbutyrolactone lignans (1–2), named Patrinians (A-B), along with ten known compounds. Their chemical structures were identified by spectroscopic data analyses. All the isolated compounds were investigated with regard to their Aβ inhibition, antioxidant, and neuroprotective activities. Dibenzylbutyrolactone lignans (1–2) and tetrahydrofuran lignans (5–10) showed significantly inhibitory effects and were relatively safe. The possible mechanism of interaction between Aβ1-42 and the active compounds was also investigated by molecular docking. Based on the results obtained, we believe that P. villosa can be used as a new functional food for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.

Keywords

• Patrinina villosa
• Lignans
• Aβ inhibition
• Neuroprotective
• Antioxidant