Multifaceted neuroprotective potential of phytocompounds and extracts from Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms flowers against alzheimer's disease: An in vitro and in silico approach.

Eichhornia crassipes (Mart.) Solms, also known as Pontederia crassipes Mart, has traditionally been used for its sedative, antipsychotic, and memory-enhancing properties. However, its effects against Alzheimer's disease (AD) remain unexplored. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the in vitro anti-AD properties of methanol (MEECF), ethanol (EEECF), and ethyl acetate (EAEECF) extracts of E. crassipes flowers and to identify potential multi-modal anti-AD phytocompounds using computational drug discovery targeting acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), and beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme-1 (BACE-1). Initially, 204 phytocompounds were metabolically annotated through GC-MS analysis of the extracts, and their functional groups and chemical nature were identified using PPS and FT-IR analysis, respectively. Molecular docking identified two hit phytocompounds (CID 4970, fumarine, and CID 106962, cyclopentanemethanamine, 5-amino-2,2,4-trimethyl-) in MEECF and EEECF, which exhibited higher binding affinities toward all targets compared to the control drug donepezil (-5.721 kcal/mol). Further molecular analysis revealed favorable pharmacokinetics, drug-likeness, and no toxicity for these two phytocompounds. Molecular dynamics simulation confirmed their binding stability to the active sites of AChE, BChE, and BACE-1, exhibiting multi-modal inhibitory activity. MEECF, EEECF, and EAEECF showed concentration-dependent antioxidant and AChE and BChE inhibition, supporting the in silico results regarding oxidative stress and cholinergic pathways. These findings suggest the anti-AD potential of E. crassipes flowers, with fumarine and cyclopentanemethanamine, 5-amino-2, 2, 4-trimethyl- identified as multi-modal inhibitors of AChE, BChE, and BACE-1. However, further in vivo research is required to comprehensively evaluate their efficacy in combating AD.