Chemical Profiling and Assessment of Antineurodegenerative and Antioxidant Properties of Veronica teucrium L. and Veronica jacquinii BAUMG. Jelena C. Zivkovi c,* a Jo~ ao C. M. Barreira, b,c Katarina P. Savikin, a Ana Z. Alimpi c, d Dejan S. Stojkovi c, e Maria In^ es Dias, b,c Celestino Santos-Buelga, f Sonja N. Duleti c-Lau sevi c, d and Isabel C. F. R. Ferreira b,c a Institute for Medicinal Plants Research “Dr. Josif Pancic”, Tadeusa Koscuska 1, RS-11000 Belgrade, e-mail: jelenazivkovic1@yahoo.com b CIMO/Escola Superior Agraria, Instituto Politecnico de Braganc ßa, Apartado 1172, PT-5301-855 Braganc ßa c REQUIMTE/Departamento de Ci^ encias Qu ımicas, Faculdade de Farmacia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, no. 228, PT-4050-313 Porto d Institute of Botany and Botanical Garden “Jevremovac”, Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, Takovska 43, RS-11000 Belgrade e Department of Plant Physiology, Institute for Biological Research “Sini sa Stankovi c”, University of Belgrade, Bulevar Despota Stefana 142, RS-11000 Belgrade f GIP-USAL, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Salamanca, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, ES-37007 Salamanca Neuroprotective potential of V. teucrium and V. jacquinii methanol extracts was analyzed. Chemical analysis of investigated extracts showed the presence of phenolic acid derivatives, flavonoids and one secoiridoid. The detected flavonoids derived from flavones (luteolin and isoscutellarein in V. jacquinii; apigenin, isoscutellarein and luteolin in V. teucrium) and flavonol (quercetin in V. jacquinii). Acteoside was the dominant compound in V. jacquinii, while plantamajoside and isoscutellarein 7-O-(6‴-O-acetyl)-b-allosyl (1‴?2‴)-b-glucoside were the major phenolics in V. teucrium. Additionally, the antineurodegenerative activity was tested at concentrations of 25, 50, and 100 lg/ml using acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and tyrosinase (TYR) assays. The inhibition of both enzymes was achieved with the investigated extracts, ranging from 22.78 to 35.40% for AChE and from 9.57 to 16.38% for TYR. There was no statistical difference between the activities of the analyzed extracts. Our data indicate that V. teucrium and V. jacquinii may have beneficial effects against Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Keywords: Antineurodegenerative activity, Natural products, Acteoside, Plantamajoside, Antioxidans. Introduction Veronica genus (Plantaginaceae) includes around 450 species, which have been used in folk medicine in Europe and Asia for the treatment of certain problems of the nervous and respiratory systems, wound heal- ing, as well as a diuretic. [1] Also, aerial parts of numer- ous species from genus Veronica are edible, either raw or cooked. On the other hand, there is absence of sci- entific evidence to support their traditional use. A few studies reported that some of them exhibited notice- able antioxidant, [2] anti-inflammatory, [1][3] and neuro- protective activity. [4] Due to the high utilization of oxygen as well as high content of unsaturated fatty acids, the neurons are very sensitive to oxidative stress. [5] That is why it is considered that the oxidative stress is involved in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases as well as other neurodegenerative diseases. Although the human body produces enzymes and non-enzyme antioxidants that usually maintain ROS levels under control, moder- ate consumption of exogenous dietary antioxidants is also suggested, especially in neurological diseases, as mammalian brain has lower levels of endogenous antioxidants compared to other organs. [6] Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurological disease connected with reduction of acetylcholine (ACh) and butyrylcholine (BCh) levels in cortex and hippocampus in the brain. [7] Inhibition of cholinester- ase enzymes, which break down ACh and BCh, could be a possible therapeutic approach for AD patients. [7] Parkinson’s disease (PD) is also a progressive DOI: 10.1002/cbdv.201700167 Chem. Biodiversity 2017, 14, e1700167 © 2017 Wiley-VHCA AG, Zurich, Switzerland (1 of 11) e1700167