Effects of Thymol and Carvacrol on Acetylcholinesterase from Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

In this study, inhibitor effects of thymol and carvacrol were investigated in vivo and in vitro on acetylcholinesterase enzyme of Drosophila melanogaster. IC50 values, Ki constants and inhibition types were determined for the substances displaying inhibitory effect. In vivo studies, were performed on larvaes by considering IC50 values. The surviving and mortality rates were determined for the solution applied to larvaes. IC50 values of thymol and carvacrol were found to be 25 mM and 0.175 mM, respectively. By using Lineweaver-Burk graphs, it was found that both compounds show non-competitive type of inhibition. According to results, it was concluded that carvacrol is a more effective inhibitor than thymol. We believe that these findings will contribute to the development of more potent, specific and effective inhibitors against AChE enzyme, design of new drugs for treating Alzheimer's disease and studies in pharmacological applications.