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

- Patrinina villosa is a wild vegetable which contains a variety of nutritional elements.
- Two new lignans (1−2) and ten known analogs (3-12) were isolated from the 70% EtOH extract of P. villosa.
- The inhibition of self-induced Aβ aggregation, antioxidant activities, cytotoxicity and cytoprotective activities of all compounds were carried out.
- Most compounds exhibited potent activities could in help with the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.

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.