High-Throughput Screening for Bioactive Natural Compounds from Plant Extracts by HPTLC Hyphenations

In the last decade, effect-directed analysis (EDA) gave new impetus for the discovery of new potential drug compounds from natural sources. Highperformance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) was established as a high-throughput and reliable separation technique that is frequently utilized for screening of highly complex samples, such as crude plant extracts. HPTLC combined with biological and biochemical assays and high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) followed by bioassay-guided isolation and NMR was demonstrated as a straightforward strategy for bioanalysis of natural products [1,2]. Diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) represent two of the global health issues. Type 2 diabetic patients, the majority of the people with diabetes, suffer from the hyperglycemia. The salivary and pancreatic α-amylases and αand β-glucosidases are involved in the degradation and digestion of polyand oligosaccharides to glucose, hence, glucosidase and amylase inhibitors are of therapeutic interest in type 2 diabetes as well as overweight and obesity [3,4]. AD is associated with the loss of cholinergic neurons in the brain and decrease in the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) are crucially involved in the hydrolysis of the acetylcholine into choline. Hence, AChE-selective and dual AChE/BChE inhibitors represented the first generation of medicines for the decrease of the AD progression rate [5]. The fight against infectious diseases, a major global public hazard, is also a challenge due to the increase in the emergence of the (multi)drug-resistant microorganisms [6]. In this study (HP)TLC combined with direct αand β-glucosidase, α-amylase and antimicrobial assays will be demonstrated for the comparison of the bio-profiles (the enzyme inhibitory and antibacterial potentials) of invasive goldenrod species.