Indole alkaloid sub products of Maqui (Aristotelia chilensis) processing as food additives to Alzheimer's Disease treatment

Abstract

Maqui (Aristotelia chilensis) is a big business for the export of its fruit, of great antioxidant properties, which has conquered the agri-food industry. Maqui fruit and leaves have shown an important range of biological actions, including antioxidants, anti-inflammatory and analgesic, leading to obtain products as complementary therapeutic agents in the treatment of various chronic and degenerative disorders. The World Alzheimer Report (WAR) 2016 reviews research evidence that people living with dementia have poor access to appropriate healthcare and due to increasing life expectancy, the number of people with dementia is increasing. WAR 2016 estimates that 46.8 million people worldwide living with dementia in 2015 and this number will reach 131.5 million in 2050 (Prince et al. 2016).The Maqui plant has bioactive molecules that can give an added value. Studies by our group of researchers have isolated indole alkaloids that inhibit AChE, an enzyme associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. The indolic alkaloids have already been proposed as therapy against Alzheimer's, in this work we will extend the state of the art to new molecules extracted from Maqui, a plant endemic to Chile, as a nutritional supplement that retards and protects from the neurodegenerative effects of Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Paz and coworkers published in 2017 the first report of cholinesterases (AChE) inhibitors indole alkaloids from A. chilensis. This publication is considered as the starting point of this project in order to evaluate the role of this indole alkaloids in vivo, and propose it for use as functional food or nutraceuticals for aging people. (AU)