Acetylcholine esterase inhibitors in Rhodiola rosea

The alcohol extract or Rhodiola rosea has been shown to cause 42 ± 3.2% inhibition of acetylcholine esterase (AChE) when tested at 10 g/L. This AChE inhibition provides a physiological explanation for the reported mental and memory enhancing properties of Rhodiola rosea extracts. Active guided fractionation indicated a multitude of components which are responsible for this plants AChE inhibition. Two flavonoid glycosides (gossypetin-7-O-l-rhamnopyranoside and rhodioflavonoside) were isolated and shown to cause 58 ± 15% and 38 ± 4% AChE inhibition respectively when tested at 5 g/L. In view of this new enzymatic activity and previous clinical work indicating memory and mental enhancing properties with no indication of toxicity, this plant needs to be researched for its potential at treating memory impairing disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.