Anticholinesterase activities of cold and hot aqueous extracts of F. racemosa stem bark

The present study evaluated the anticholinesterase activity of cold and hot aqueous extracts of Ficus racemosa stem bark against rat brain acetylcholinesterase in vitro. Both the cold aqueous extract (FRC) and the hot aqueous extract (FRH) exhibited a dose dependent inhibition of rat brain acetylcholinesterase. FRH showed significantly higher (P ≤ 0.001) cholinesterase inhibitory activity compared to FRC; however, both the extracts did not show 50% inhibition of AChE at the doses tested (200-1000 μg ml(−1)). The IC(50) values of 1813 and 1331 μg ml(−1) were deduced for FRC and FRH, respectively (calculated by extrapolation using Boltzmann's dose response analysis).